A sail seeing Southern Residents from J and K pods

July 6, 2019 – It was a fun, adventurous sail around the islands.

Initially we made a choice to sail south with the ebb to see if we could find minke whales down on Salmon Bank. Our early morning report was that the Southern Residents went up through Active Pass presumably towards the Fraser River. However, they returned immediately and traveled at about 9-11knots not stopping until they reached False Bay on the west side of San Juan Island.

And so, with news of Southern Residents halfway to East Pt from Pt Roberts, we came about and decided to go north.

Hugging the shoreline of Shaw we looked for bald eagles. Tacking back and forth in the islands south of Yellow Island we saw many harbor seals hauled out, including one with a new pup. Making swift progress we motor sailed to increase our chances of seeing the Residents.

Using the ebb current, we sailed quickly passed the Cactus Islands and the north shore of Spieden Island. As we exited New Channel just south of Stuart Island we got a chance to watch many members from J and K pods as they travelled in singles and loose groups quickly south down Haro Strait. The sea conditions were quite chunky so we hung tight and watched as they filed by.

It was our first time seeing K pod this year and we haven’t seen J pod since May 6th. It’ll be interesting to see how long it’ll be until they return. And how long will it be before our salmon runs return?