Saturday, October 3rd, 2009

The air today was definitely autumn weather. Last weekend it felt like the end of summer, and today the air had that ‘tang’ to it. We headed through the middle of the islands and all of the deciduous trees have turned colors. Even brown leaves are falling. We spotted a bald eagle on Goose Island. Eagle sightings are getting rarer, as most of them have headed inland to feast on the returning salmon. We went around the corner and there were the whales spread out in Haro Strait. The first whale we saw was K11, Georgia (est. 1933) then we saw some more K pod members pass by. They were travelling. Next the J’s started coming by, and then they stopped to fish. Eighteen year old J27, Blackberry, as usual had little six year old brother J39, Mako with him.  (They were orphaned last year.) They were doing a lot of foraging. There were some other J’s there as well, but too far out to ID. Then we saw a male that wasn’t a K or a J. It turned out to be L87, Gaia. Perhaps he was hanging out with the teenage ‘girls’ in J pod? Most likely! The sun was out, it had warmed up, whales were everywhere…………….great day. The birds are getting their winter plumage and they are not as easily ID’d with just a glance.  Summer is indeed over. Our last trip this season will be October 10^th, Saturday.