Autumn Whales

Today I ventured out to see the incoming superpod in the wind and rain. It was somehow appropriate that my first time seeing the residents after the fall equinox was a cool blustery day. As I walked down to the lighthouse, orange leaves drifted down from the trees. I took my place on "my rock", and my jeans got wet from the damp rocks. The water was a steely gray, and I had my hood up against the drizzle. The whales were pretty far offshore, but I was still smiling: it's almost October, and I'm watching killer whales!

Blackberry (J27) and his younger brother Mako (J39) - Mako did a couple of enthusiastic upsidedown breaches as the J11 family traveled up Haro Strait

The whales were mostly about a half mile offshore, plus it was drizzly, so I didn't get to take many photos, but they were vocalizing and I made my first Mp3 player recording in about a month. I'll go through tomorrow and pick out a nice sample to post.

In between groups of whales passing by, a great blue heron also flew over!

At times the sun would break between the clouds, as in the above picture looking across at the Olympic Mountains. It was only a brief parting, but the mountains looked like they were momentarily floating about the strait. By the time I headed back to town, however, the rain had started in again and the winds were picking up and there was no hint of sunshine anymore.