[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/6″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_single_image source=”featured_image” img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/6″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]What a day we had with J Pod at Sunset in San Juan Channel. They were southbound through San Juan Channel, and I just exited the harbor when I saw the first Whale Wise Slow Down Flag. It turned out that it was a bit premature as they were a mile and a half north but still delightful to see them so close to home.
It was one of those days when they were widespread and foraging for salmon. It was a situation in which proximity was very ‘dynamic’ as a WDFW Sargent describes it. They were multidirectional, and on occasion, I needed to shut down because they popped up closer than the distance we are allowed to approach them.
One thing I have learned with the new lens I am using, a Prime 500mm, is that when they show up too close, that is also too close for my lens.
Once they reached Friday Harbor or abeam of, they flipped. I think it had to do with the Ferry in their path, but I am not sure.
We got to see J31 Tsuchi with her calf J56 Tofino. We got to see the three big males, J26 Mike, J27 Blackberry, and J38 Cookie. Cookie is technically not fully grown yet, but he is getting big.
We saw Cookies mom J22 Oreo, and the sun was on her left side as were we, so I was hoping I got an in-focus pic of her eye patch and beauty marks today.
This new 500mm Prime lens allows me to share the detail like never before if I crop in close, with more vivid detail.
Some others we saw were J19 Sachi, J16 Slick, J47 Notch, J35 Tahlequah, and others. J47 Notch is in a couple of pics with one of the males, possibly J45 SeYi’Chn, swimming upside down behind him with pectoral fins in the air.
One Spy-Hop I caught was not a spy-hop at all but picking a stick up out of the water with its head—two pics show this with a view from the back of the head.
The very last pic in this post is J26 Mike coming in from the rear right at sunset. Beautiful day on the water with friends and whales.
Check out some of my other photoblog pages at Whale Tales.
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