Someone got to say it again: "In Coming" …J pod was coming back in. They took most of the day and made it to the lighthouse at about 5:15, they were very far from shore and spread for miles.

The whales took a long time to get on by and whether they all did or not was a mystery.

A mystery, that is until I learned this morning that some had come back down sometime after 8:30 last night! I will say they sure have been quiet on the hydrophones lately.

So I was intrigued this morning to find out just who was out there, I figured it would be Group B of J pod, mainly because Granny’s group, Group A, had been the first to go north past the lighthouse yesterday way before the others came up. I hadn’t seen Slick J-16 and family so I wasn’t too sure who they were with.

I went out on Maya’s Westside Charters for a morning trip and we didn’t have far to go, the whales were near Lime Kiln.The first whale we saw wasPrincess Angeline J-17, and Moby J-44 was with her.

Someone thought they had seen Shachi J-19 and Eclipse J-41, but that didn’t fit!…ah, but when I saw Rhapsody J-32 breach, and then heard that Blackberry J-27 was far offshore, being mistaken for Onyx L-87, I knew we had Group B (J11s, J17s, J22s). By the time we saw him he was moving up island slowly.

Their ‘up island’ didn’t last long, they flipped and went down island, and then they flipped again. Blackberry J-27 was taking his time. Capt. Jim dropped in the hydrophones and we could hear Blackberry echolocating.He moved very slowly, this way and that, and after a while met up with his little brother, Mako J-39, and off the two of them went.

Granny’s group was coming down Rosario Strait. When we came back out on the afternoon trip, Group B was in about the same place we left them earlier, south of Lime Kiln and spread out.Some were playing around, Cookie J-38, Notch J-47 and Mako J-39…well 2 of the 3.

It was interesting to note that when Granny and her group came up island today, they zoomed past the Group B whales and got into the lead! I only know that because as we were heading home I saw Onyx L-87.

Then, way in shore in Andrews Bay I saw two whales, so I quickly snapped a couple pics. Because they were so far in, it looked as if maybe they had even gone on the inside of Low Island. Guess who? Granny J-2 and Spieden J-8! and they were the leaders. Are they going to meet up with L pod who were coming down from the north?

This is at least the third year in a row L pod has done that, and we’ll see if the K Klik (Cappuccino K-21, Raggedy K-40, Opus K-16, Sonata K-35) and the three whales in the L2 group (L2, L78 and L88) might be with them.Last week they had come down ahead of Js and Ks, and Ls had already left the night before.

Will they come through Porlier Pass like they did last year…we may just find out tomorrow!