Bigg's T36s-T37s and J Pod

A beautiful day with lots of sun, and Bigg’s T36s-T37s and J Pod making us smile. There were other pods around too, plus Humpback Whales, Minke Whales, and Gray Whales.

Our first tour was south of the islands with the Bigg’s pods. On the way I stopped off and shared a Tufted Puffin who was pretty and posing for us. He was doing something with his jaw and beak. Not sure if he was injured or this is part of the process for shedding his plates.

When I reached the Bigg’s they were spread out pretty wide in three groups plus a single. By the time we left them two of the groups and a single had joined up again.

Later I had an evening private tour and we spent some time with J pod who had crossed over from Canada. We got a taste of what a Marine Biologist sarcasm looks like. I asked if he had seen J27 today? He said yes “He is off by himself somewhere doing 3-hour dives”. Meaning it was hard to track him.

After spending some time off False Bay and Pile Point with the trailing group we moved up the island and noticed a few offshore spread out. Trying to get pics of as many as we could we got lucky and happened to find J27 Blackberry foraging. Got some nice views of him until he wandered across the border. Then we went up further towards Stuart Island and watched the leaders make their way into Canada aiming towards Swanson Channel. We got some nice views of J38 Cookie with Mount Baker as a backdrop.

On the way back there were some amazing skies with the sunset and a full moon rising over the horizon.

“The Sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.”
Jacques Cousteau