September 9th: Foggy Whales at Lime Kiln

Having heard the Southern Residents were inbound on the evening of September 8th, September 9th seemed like a good morning to head out to Lime Kiln. I was the first person in the park, and the morning was beautiful....except for the unanticipated fog!

The fog kept lifting and getting denser, so I was hopeful it would clear if the whales were going to come by. In the meantime, the constantly changing lighting made for some interesting photographic opportunities! 

A "fogbow"?

Turns out I wasn't the only one with the idea of watching whales in the fog, and a small group of us gathered on the shoreline in anticipation. Sure enough, here came the whales - we heard them before we saw them, and for many of them, we never saw them at all!

J2 Granny in the fog

The whales were really spread out, and it seemed the fog would lift in the gaps, and then grow more dense as soon as we could hear whales approaching. It was a bit frustrating to be honest, but also a pretty ethereal whale watching experience. Thankfully some whales were right off the rocks, and we could only see them for about 1-2 surfacings.

J27 Blackberry

It's hard to be pointed in the right spot at the right time for whale photography anyway, but the challenge becomes that much harder in the fog, especially for focusing! I tried to take a few video clips to capture the sound of what I called "Whale Listening Park" that morning, and also to capture some of the whales that came by right off the rocks in the fog. In the first two clips, listen for the blows. The third clip will show some whales. It was hard to see what I was filming, hence the whales being a little off-center!

Finally the fog clearing aligned with some whales coming by - J37 Hy'shqa and her son J49 T'ilem I'nges along with K34 Cali.

J37 Hy'shqa

K34 Cali

But of course it didn't last long....

K20 Spock

At this point it was time for me to go to work, but I heard later the whales continued to come by in ones and twos, and the fog DID eventually lift, providing better viewing for the shore-based whale watchers. But honestly, I kind of liked having such a unique experience in the fog.

Sept 28: Spectacular Sunday

On Sunday, September 28th I had the chance to go out with Legacy Charters, and the weather couldn't have been better. It was sunny, fairly warm, calm - and days like that are at a premium this time of year! And best of all, we left the dock with multiple whale reports.

First we headed up to Spieden Channel where a humpback whale has been hanging out for several days. This is BCY0409, also known as Yogi.

At first it seemed to be doing the "regular" humpback thing, of surfacing several times, then fluking and going down for a longer dive.

I knew this whale was known for being pretty active, but I still wasn't prepared when about two minutes into one of its dives it instead did a full body breach out of the water! My camera wasn't ready, and nor was anyone else's, but I have a perfect image in my mind of turning my head and seeing the whale completely airborn with the sun hitting it perfectly. I'm just sorry I can't share it with you! But he/she remained more active after that, doing a little bit of a surface lunge....

...and then tail-thrashing like crazy!

Here was one huge headstand/tail wave:

We got to see Yogi do one more nice set of surfacings and a dive in front of Spieden Island before moving on....because, after all, this was just the opening act!

Next we cruised down the west side of San Juan Island to where J-Pod (and three K-Pod whales) were hanging out. They had been doing the "west side shuffle" throughout the day, and we ended up meeting up with them off the south end near Salmon Bank. While the morning fog had thankfully mostly burned off by this point, we found ourselves in a thick patch of it as we came upon the whales!

When we arrived on scene, the whales seemed a little undecided as to which direction they were going to go. It was pretty cool to just sit there in such an ephemeral setting with whales basically in all directions, going all different directions! The lighting was spectacular because it was both sunny and foggy at the same time. J22 Oreo and her oldest son J34 Doublestuf came across our bow:

J22 Oreo and J34 Doublestuf

J22 Oreo and J34 Doublestuf

It was also my first good look at K21 Cappuccino in a while!

K21 Cappuccino

Right before we had gotten on scene, the two separate J-Pod groups had met up with each other. After the milling about we saw, it seemed like they finally decided to group up and head north. As always, it was so cool to see so many whales all together!

That's J28 Polaris front and center

J26 Mike

While they were clearly traveling, they were a bit active, too!

J46 Star (left) and J47 Notch (right)

We were so close to Whale Rocks, Captain Spencer just had to take us over to see these charismatic "Grizzlies of the sea" - Steller Sea Lions. I love these guys!

Then as we cruised back north to Snug Harbor, we went right by the orcas again and got one more look.

From left to right J16 Slick, J42 Echo, and J28 Polaris

From left to right J14 Samish, J28 Polaris, and J42 Echo

This time of year, when we don't know how much longer the whales will stick around, every encounter takes on a little extra meaning. These moments will have to tide us "orcaholics" over a mostly whale-less winter. This special afternoon was certainly a memorable one, and will be a fitting grand finale if that's what it ends up being (though I hope I've got another month of whales, of course)!

One more shot from the trip home, showing where I do most of my whale-watching - Lime Kiln Lighthouse. It's always fun to see it from the water-side!

August 13th ~ A Magical Evening at Lime Kiln

After a very sunny, dry summer we finally got a couple days of much-needed rain. The temperatures were still warm, but with it being so gray out, it was easy to hole up, and I was already in my pajamas at home after work when I heard that whales were heading towards the west side. I debated staying comfy, but only for a moment - soon I was out the door with camera bag in hand. Good decision!

It was one of those nights where most of the people on the rocks are your friends. That's one of the things I love about Lime Kiln - moments like that. The lighting was ethereal as the fog banks came and went. It had the essence of winter about it - except it was warm, and still light after 6 PM!

The mood - foggy some directions....

....clear in others

We couldn't see that far too the north, so weren't sure how close the whales were. We did have a bit of a wait, but there was plenty of stuff to look at, including a Steller sea lion and a couple of bait balls:

See the two with mouths full of fish?

Who says glaucous-winged gulls aren't diving birds?

Finally it cleared enough that we could see a line of whales coming - but then the fog came back in as they passed us. It was pretty neat, though hard to focus the camera!

There was a gap between this first group of whales and the next one, and during this time a minke whale went by way off shore!

There was also a great blue heron drifting towards us on some kelp. First it caught a gunnel:

That's a fish hanging out of the heron's beak

Then the heron took flight, and landed on another raft of kelp right in front of us! With the lighting, it was perfect:

Next up were J42 Echo, who paused to presumably pursue a fish:

J42 Echo

And not far away was big brother J26 Mike, with an amazing blue-gray backdrop:

J26 Mike

Pretty much the only people at the lighthouse other than whale-watching friends of mine were this couple getting married! Perhaps not the weather they were hoping for, but still not bad timing!

Exchanging vows, then watching whales - all from the top of the lighthouse!

Then the fog REALLY moved in. As J2 Granny came by, we could hear her before we could see her, and then glimpse her only barely. The next couple of whales we couldn't see at all!

Shore-based whale-watching in the fog

Boat-based whale-watching in the fog

Finally, just as I was going up the hill to leave, the fog lifted again just enough to see L87 Onyx rocketing by the lighthouse, a bit behind the others.

Just another one-of-a-kind night at Lime Kiln! :)