Southern Resident J Pod Orcas visit Friday Harbor

March 21, 2020 – As we were doing some maintenance on ‘Peniel’ at the dock we heard that our Southern Resident orcas from J pod were coming down San Juan Channel towards Friday Harbor. We worked as quickly as we could to finish up our painting project. The orcas were just outside of the harbor as we hopped into our tender and cast off for a quick look.

The first orca we saw was sprouter male J38 swimming close to shore traveling south passing the harbor. The next orca to go by (who we believe to be J44) stopped nearby checking us out with an awesome spy hop. The rest of the pod appeared to be milling/socializing near Pt Caution. A few members including J40 and J19 began breaching – possibly indicating a direction change as the whales suddenly turned northbound. A few moments later J44 went by us again joining the others to the north.

It was incredible seeing J pod in what appeared to be good spirits with lots of playful socializing. A group of boys including J39, J47 and J45 were goofing around together as they made their way up the channel. It was fun watching little J53 flipping around a piece of salmon in her mouth. We also saw the youngest member, J56, zipping around with lots of energy next to mom, J31. As the whales cleared Jones Island, we turned back towards home smiling all the way grateful for the opportunity to see them.

Note: This is the second time recently (previously March 9th) where J pod came down San Juan Channel against the tide, stopped just outside of the harbor for quite awhile to forage/socialize, and then changed course back north as the tide turned traveling against the tide again. We have heard in the days when folks fished for king salmon off the breakwater about 20 yrs ago, J pod foraged in San Juan Channel frequently.