News from Observation Post #12 Seattle, Washington, USA Last year (2007), the grays arrived in Puget Sound in full force on March 17. Here's the latest for 2008: March 8, 2008: Monte of Mystic Sea Charters reports: "March 8 we had our first whale watch cruise and saw "Patches" (whale #49, see photo at right), #56, and an unkown gray whale. They gave us a great show with lots of tail flapping and blowing and eating lots of mud shrimp." The sighting occurred in the calm protected waters of Saratoga Passage, near Gedney Island. How did these whales get numbers? To learn how whales are identified by Cascadia Research, go to Cascadia Research's Gray Whale Page and scroll down to "Field Identification Guide to Northern Puget Sound gray whales, 2007." Feb. 28, 2008: We had our first gray whale return on February 28th and the 29th. There was only one but we will be out again on Saturday, March 8th. Mystic Sea Charters, A Whale Observation Post Monte and Cindy Hughes lead Gray Whale watching excursions out of Coupeville, Washington aboard the 100-foot Mystic Sea.     Seattle, Washington (47.83N, -124.40W) "Patches" the gray whale Photo Michael H. Smith