L54's And More On 9/16/14

On the 15th of September, Group B of J pod, K, and L pod were inbound far out in Juan De Fuca Strait, headed for San Juan Island. Group A of J pod (including the J16's) was also inbound, but much closer. Group A had come back down from the Fraser River during the night, swam past San Juan Island, headed West and had made it to Trial Island in Juan De Fuca before they turned around and aimed for the island again. Once Group A made it to San Juan Island, they continued North for the Fraser River.

The next day, Group A was up at the Fraser River, while lots of orcas were reported off of Eagle Point, San Juan Island. Soon, I could see J, K, and L pod members spread out offshore of my house, and that there were others to the South of me as well. In the afternoon, aboard the Odyssey of San Juan Excursions, we headed out to Hein Bank to catch up with J, K and L who were all exiting the area for the open ocean again. Escorting us out to the orcas for about thirty five minutes was the same lone Pacific white sided dolphin that has been harassing the orcas on and off this season.

The first orcas we saw were the J16's ( made up of Slick J16, Mike J26, Alki J36, and Echo J42) and L43's (Racer L72, Nigel L95, and Fluke L105). Fluke and Alki were goofing off together for awhile until Racer spy hopped and breached. Fluke then joined back up with her and they headed towards other L pod members, which turned out to be the L54's (Ino L54, Nyssa L84, Wave Walker L88, Coho L108, and Keta L117) and Ballena L90 (from the L26 matriline). Right about this time, it looked like everyone else also turned around and began heading back for San Juan Island.

This was just my third time seeing the L54's this entire season and I was very excited to see how they were doing! Coho was very active during our entire encounter, spy hopping and tail slapping multiple times! Wave Walker also tail slapped a few times! Keta did not show its belly again, so its gender is still unknown.

Our friendly Pacific white sided dolphin!

Slick J16, born around 1972, and her son Mike J26, who was born in 1991.

Coho L108 spy hops! He was born in 2006.

Ballena L90, born in 1993.

Wave Walker L88, born in 1993, and Coho L108 split off for a bit and traveled together.

Nyssa L84, born in 1990, and Keta L117, born in 2010. Ino L54, born in 1977, was there too.

That evening I could see some orcas far offshore of my house, and I wondered if Group B of J pod, K, and L pod would stay in the area. By morning, they had all left for the open ocean, west bound in Juan De Fuca Strait. However, Group A of J pod (minus the J16's now) were still up at the Fraser River. On the 18th, Group A was back down at San Juan Island, doing their "West side shuffle". Out on the Odyssey, we watched as Granny J2, the J14's, J19's, and Onyx L87 traveled North up the Southwest side of the island. With them, of course was our friendly Pacific white sided dolphin again. He appeared to be trying to catch up with Onyx, who had encountered this energetic dolphin before and did not feel the same way. Possibly to avoid or loose the dolphin, Onyx even made a very close pass by our boat. Maybe he wanted to "scrape" the dolphin off on our bow so it would start bow riding and leave him alone?

Samish J14, born in 1974, and her daughter Suttles J40, born in 2004.

Onyx L87, born in 1992. He didn't want anything to do with the dolphin.

What will happen next??

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