J Pod

We had reports of J Pod heading South past Point Roberts around noon. Giles, Jim, Aisha, and Michelline headed to the research vessel and we cast off around 2 pm. We arrived on scene with Southern Resident killer whales just South of Saturna island, with many shore-based whale watchers checking them out as they came together in the sanctuary off of Tumbo Channel. They seemed to take a rest from their travels to mill and play with each other in the sanctuary before continuing their journey Southwest. We were surveying in ideal conditions as the whales slowly fought the current in Boundary Pass. The light wind made for challenging scent detection, but after a couple of hours on scene both Eba, Giles, and Aisha caught a scent of a sample! It took about 20-30 minutes to locate the sample, but we found it in the end! We headed back to Snug Harbor around 6 pm and were happy to know that the whales had a beautiful evening to themselves.