Welcome home Southern Resident Killer Whales (J's and L's)

June 11, 2018 – Today we awoke to some fantastic sounds – the Southern Resident Killer Whales were vocalizing on Lime Kiln Point State Park hydrophone. First time they’ve been back since end of March. We could identify calls of J and L Pods. As the tide switched to flood, the orcas headed north and so did we in “Peniel”. We met up with the orcas just north of Turn Point Lighthouse. The whales were spread in many loose groups. We found the trailers, the J17’s and L87. Together we travelled along N. Pender Island up towards Active Pass. As we bumped up we encountered several other groups along the way, including J22, J38 with J37 and son, J49 and a larger group up ahead, the L47’s with L90. We were surprised not to see L92 “Crewser” in the group. Upon entering Active Pass, the orcas picked up speed and began porpoising – what a sight to see as the spray from the orcas’ wake revealed a rainbow from the sun. We obtained some distant orca photos and also photographed L72 with son L105. We watched them continue on towards the direction of Vancouver before taking Georgeson Pass to start our journey for home. Our hearts felt so happy seeing our beloved SRKW’s.