Part of J-Pod Off Turn Point

This morning on the Western Prince we saw part of J-Pod off Turn Point, at the very northwest corner of the San Juan Islands. I thought we had a lot of whales around where we were, but I guess J-Pod was actually spread out all the way from Swanson Channel down to False Bay - well over 10 miles! We did get great looks at both J2 Granny and J1 Ruffles.

J2 Granny

J1 Ruffles surfacing with kelp trailing off his dorsal fin in front of Turn Point Lighthouse - what a nice photo op!

This is a full frame (uncropped) shot of J1 Ruffles, the oldest male in the Southern Resident Community at the age of 58 and so named because of the wavy trailing age to his dorsal fin

Ruffles was doing lots of tail slaps, including this one that flung a small piece of kelp into the air. Check out how ragged his tail looks at the edges! This guy has obviously lived through a lot.

On the way back to Friday Harbor we checked out this eagle nest on Spieden Island that has a juvenile in it who is full-sized but not quite ready to fledge.

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