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Lena and Marisa head to Dyes Inlet to go spawning for salmon. As they are spawning, Marisa notices that their are whales in the Inlet, as they do not belong there. Lena wants to get closer to the whales whereas Marisa wants to go back to the dock. While Lena tries to get closer, Marisa thinks back to the last time she had seen whales, and that was with her mom.

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"It's salmon season here in Dyes Inlet and the chum are running strong, hundreds of fish heading upstream to the creeks for their fall spawning"  (p. 12).

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The town begins to notice that there are whales in the inlet and begin to gather around. Meanwhile, Marisa starts thinking more and more about her mom and the reasoning for why she left her and her dad. Marisa thinks back to the night where she overheard her mom and dad talking and she heard her mom say, "I haven't been brave, Dan. I buried things, important things, willed them to just go away, And I dragged you into it, too." After hearing this, Marisa was unsure of what was going on.

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As the next few days approach, the whales are still sighted in the inlet. Marisa's dad is the manager for Mud Bay Kayak center, where people are wanting to rent boats to see the whales. While her dad is at work, Marisa is to go to the post office and pick up the mail. As she goes through the mail, she sees a letter addressed from her mom. Instead of opening the letter, Marisa throws it in the recycling bin.

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Marisa heads to science class where her teacher begins to talk about the whale sighting. He decides to use the whale sighting as a part of his lesson for the day. He asks questions such as, "who can tell me what the basic social unit of whales is called?" Marisa is the only one who knows the answer as she raises her hand and says, "a pod." As science class is coming to an end, the teacher mentions that they need some volunteers to help with "equipment, traffic barriers, and grunt work." As Marisa leaves, Lena signs up both her and Marisa for volunteering. But, she doesn't ask Marisa if it is okay to write her name down for her.

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As Marisa finds out that Lena wrote her name down on the volunteer sign-up sheet, she becomes upset. She tells Lena that she cannot go around making decisions for other people. As Marisa comes up with excuses as to why she cannot volunteer, Lena asks, "what happened to your famous love for science?" She then brings up her mom, which makes Marisa uneasy. Marisa heads home for the day and decides to watch T.V. As she's watching, she hears them discuss that the whales in the inlet are from the L Pod. Marisa then goes to her room and looks through a stack of papers to see if she can find the adoption certificate of the whale that her and her mom had adopted a few years back. Sure enough, the whale that she adopted was from the L pod, too.

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Marisa's dad drops her off at the inlet as it is time for her to volunteer. She notices her teacher with another man, who turns out to be from the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor. As they begin placing people in different areas, Marisa finds out that she is going on the water with Lena and Harris. After hearing that, she becomes uneasy. Marisa and Harris end up getting into an argument and Harris decides to leave. Before Harris leaves, he brings up Marisa's mom in front of her, which left her stunned.

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Marisa finally ends up trying to open up with Lena about her mom. Once Lena finds out that Marisa doesn't know why her mom left and why she won't talk to her dad, Lena was not all that happy with her. Marisa begins to get irritated and tells Lena to leave as her boat is leaving, and quickly walks away. As Lena leaves, Tal (Marisa's dad's boss), approaches her and they begin to have a conversation. Toward the end of the conversation, Marisa feels the sudden urge to tell him everything about her mom, but, she holds it in. After her talk with Tal, she feels herself smile for the first time in awhile. As Lena heads home and makes shortcuts, she hears Grace yell from a distance, "five dollars!" as she explains that people have to pay to be able to walk on the beach where they live.

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Marisa ends up taking the long way home and falls asleep. She wakes up tot he smell of her dad cooking. While he is cooking, she begins to feel a rush of shame as her eyes water. She finally opens up to her dad and asks him why her mom left, if he misses her, and if she is coming back. Her dad explains to Marisa that her mom made him promise not to ask about her past, and so he never did. So, he does not know much about her other than the fact that she lived in California, and he never met her parents. After talking with her dad, Marisa decides that the next letter her mom sends, she is going to read it. The next day rolls around and Marisa is up early down at the Inlet preparing for the day. As they get on the boat to whale watch, they come in contact with whales communicating, eating, and vocalizing.

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"Flying from a small mast is a yellow flag identifying our craft as a research vessel, which means we're allowed to get closer to the whales" (p. 66).

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Boats and boating--Equipment and supplies

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"Just then a short, sharp whale call rings out close by- Aiiiieeee-- and we hear the unmistakable hissing sound of whales coming up to breathe" (p. 67).

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As the whales are still there, Marisa and Lena and a few others are allowed to leave school at noon to help with the visitors at the inlet. Before it is time to leave, Marisa sees Harris and tries to apologize but Harris wasn't all that happy. He leaves Marisa and she heads to the inlet. But, Marisa makes a pit stop at the post office to see if her mom had sent any letters, but she hadn't. As Lena and Marisa are answering visitor's questions, Kevin and Naomi come rushing over to say that the whales are heading out. Everyone runs to the water's edge. As they watch the whales head out, they notice that the boars are following and are not backing off. Marisa bikes to the bridge to tell the police to clear the Narrows so the whales have a clear shot out under the bridge. Marisa approaches the officers and tells them to clear the bridge immediately. The police officers yell on their bullhorn to clear the way, but one motorboat speeds directly in front of the whales, cutting them off, and goes back again in the other direction. The whales stop and begin to smack the water with their tails. Then, they head back towards Dyes Inlet.

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Kevin is not happy with what happened yesterday in the inlet so he decides to take matters into his own hands. He sleeps in his van on the dock, ready to watch and go. The next day, Kevin goes to the Port Washington Police and demands that they have state and federal patrols on Dyes Inlet. In addition, he also calls for private boaters to lend their vessels to SoundKeeper. Among them, was Tal Reese's crew. As Marisa and Tal head towards Mud Bay to deliver the boats, the sky begins to darken. Then, Marisa notices that a canoe has flipped in the water. As Tal sees, he quickly turns the boat around to rescue them. As they approach the two people in the water with no life jackets on, they notice that it's Harris and Jesse. They manage to get them out of the water and they head to the dock to get them to the Medic-van.

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Harris and Jesse are at Evanston Urgent Care where they are being treated after being pulled from the water. While Tal's wife tries to get information on the two boys, they come to find out that the dad is not usually around and no one has seen the mother, which makes them a bit worried. In addition, Marisa is the one telling Tal and his wife, which makes her feel like she is making things worse. Later, Marisa received a letter from her mom that says, "be good", but Marisa isn't quite sure what being "good" means.

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As Tal and his wife are unable to locate Jesse and Harris' parents, they decide to let the two boys stay with them for the time being. Later that morning, Marisa gets a phone call from her mom. Still in shock, she answers the phone and talks to her mom for a few minutes. She tells her mom that the whales are in the inlet and asks her to come home. However, her mom says that their is someone important that she needs to meet first. Marisa gets upset that her mom had said no and hung up the phone. Later that day they head to the Silverdale Halloween Parade where they see Lena, Grace, and her dad. As everyone settles down, someone comes on the microphone and announces that they will be having a blessing ceremony for the whales because they do not belong in the inlet. However, Harris and Marisa begin thinking that something else is going on.

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Marisa's dad offered to host a TV crew from the Today Show as they are wanting to film a segment of Kevin and the orcas. So, Marisa is up at 4am to watch the crew set up to film Kevin and the orcas. As a few hours pass, Marisa and Naomi begin to get bored. Naomi asks Marisa if she wants to sit in the van. While doing so, Marisa sees the hydrophones and examines it. She tells Naomi that she knows what hydrophones do but not sure how exactly they work. So, Naomi gets out a tape and they being to listen to a tape of whales that she had recorded. As Marisa gets home later that night, she starts thinking about many questions but has no answers. She wants to ask Kevin to see if he can help.

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The next day comes around and Marisa and Harris are ready to help Kevin with whatever he may need. Kevin gets a phone call saying that the state and tribal managers agreed to cancel commercial fishing in the inlet. As that is good news, the three of them seem to find it a bit unusual. As they are in Kevin's van, he asks Marisa and Harris to sort pictures of the whales chronologically and by family. As he shows a few pictures, he explains how he can tell if a whale is becoming distressed or not. So, they need to be sure to watch the whales in the inlet very closely. Later that day, Marisa asks Harris if he wants to try and see the whales early before school the next day. So, they get on the water, anxiously waiting, but seem to see no whales. But, right before they are about to head back to shore, they see three whales in the distance, and then a few more. As they head back to shore, Marisa asks Harris if her mom used to ever talk about her, and Harris replies, "Marisa, you're kidding right? Your mom talked about you all the time" (p. 117). As Marisa is sleeping, she is suddenly woken up by the hard waves crashing into the houseboat, causing things to go flying. They make it onto the dock to see the a few commercial tour boats had driven too fast through the Narrows.

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"Most show dorsal fins or the upper surface of a whale, their blowholes, and bit of their heads" (p. 112).

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"See the difference here, the dull gray skin and the depression around the blowhole?" "On a whale, that condition is call 'peanut head' and it's the first sign of emaciation. Basically those whales in Alaska starved to death" (p. 113).

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Marisa hasn't showered in two days due to the busted lines. But, she also doesn't have time to shower at school either because Kevin wants her to post "No Wake" notices around town on the poles. She runs into Harris while doing so, and he offers to help. As they reach the cutoff to Lions Field, they run into Grace, walking around by herself. She asks Marisa if she can hang some of the notices at the Yacht Club because it would show her dad that she actually knows some of what is going on. As Marisa and Harris head back, Harris invites her to come into Tal and Bette's house. Bette offers for Marisa to take a shower at the house as well as stay the night as she will be there in the morning anyways. Harris gives her a tour of the house and shows her the room that she is staying in, also known as the tower. As they are in the tower, they notice a bracelet and a few yearbooks addressed to someone named Carol Ann. As they go through the yearbook, they see that her last name is Reese, same as Tal and Bette's, but, her picture is gone. Before heading downstairs, Marisa rakes a look into the telescope to see fives whales heading toward the bridge. Three whales make it through, but they wait for the others. Then, a few seconds later, she sees that they head back in the inlet.

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Harris tells Marisa that Tal and Bette have asked him and Jesse if they want to stay with them permanently. However, Harris tells Marisa that he doesn't want to. When Marisa hears Harris say no, she asks, "why?" Harris then tells her that he can't leave his old man even with all the bad choices he has made. A few minutes later, Bette comes upstairs and notices the yearbook it open. She begins to talk about Carol. She tells Marisa and Harris that she had run away and had a baby at the age of 18. Marisa asks if they had stopped looking, but she says no. As she is talking about Carol, she lets a little secret slip about Marisa's mom. Later that day, Marisa has a bad dream but is woken up by the phone ringing. Marisa and her dad are headed to see the whales when they hear a loud siren. Both worried, they hurry to Lions Field to see what is going on. Marisa and Naomi head out to the whales. Naomi tells Marisa that the whales are clustered in a tight defensive group because they are stressed with the amount of boats around them. Marisa then finds out that there are 500 boats in the inlet. Naomi then warns the boaters to turn off their engines and to allow the whales room to move as they are blocked in. After hard work, they finally get an opening for the whales to get through. They see a baby whale in the group and Marisa realizes that it is Muncher.

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"Whales won't cluster in a tight defensive group like that unless they're pretty stressed...We motor out and see clearly now that the entire inlet is jammed with boats" p. 140.

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With the events that occurred the day before, the Suquamish Tribe decided to move their blessing ceremony up a day. With all that has been going on the past few days, Marisa hasn't had time to go by the post office to check for letters from her mom, but says that she will go first thing in the morning. As everyone is waiting for the ceremony to begin, they see canoes in the distance, not just a few, but about 50-60. All people in the canoes are chanting something but they are not able to make out what they are saying as it is in a different language.

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Marisa goes to the post office bright and early to see if she has gotten a letter from her mom, but, no luck. As she goes through the mail again, Charlie, the guy who works at the post office gives her another letter. However, it isn't addressed to her, but to her mom. Marisa puts it in her backpack but is very tempted to open it. Marisa finally decides to open it. The letter is from the son that her mom had put up for adoption many years ago. Marisa reads until she can't anymore, she is too upset. Then, Marisa's dad comes in and said its time to leave to head to the Sons of Norway Lodge for the meeting. As the meeting begins, they show pictures on the slideshow from the previous day with all the boats. Harris turns to Marisa to tell her that the pictures being shown are the ones that he took. As the meeting comes to an end, they take questions. To a surprise, Marisa's dad raises his hand to inform everyone that the Mud Bay Kayak will not be running as long as the whales are still in town. Once the meeting is done, they all go out for pizza. While there, the adults begin to tell the story about Penn Cove.

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As the next day approaches, Harris, Lena, Grace, and Marisa all spend their morning brainstorming ways to get the whales out of the inlet. Later that night, Marisa can't fall asleep because she has too much on her mind. So, about an hour before the sun rises, she decides to go out on the inlet by herself. She leaves her dad a note and rides her bike. Once she gets on the water, the fog begins to make it harder for her to see anything. Then, a baby whale and its mother show up right in front of her. Suddenly, Marisa feels her kayak rocking back and forth due to something bumping it, as if she is about to flip over. Then, she feels the bump again and see that it is the baby whale. The baby and mom both begin to circle around as if they want her to follow, so she does. As she follows, she sees the baby whale get some salmon from the shoreline. Then, Marisa finds herself back at Mud Bay and the whales are gone now.

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"Seeing her saddle patch so closely, I'm amazed that what looks like pure white from a distance is really more like mottled gray, with subtle variations" (p. 165).

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Marisa quickly puts up the kayak as she thinks of a way to help get the whales out of the inlet. She gets on her bike and pedals as fast as she can over to Kevin's. Marisa explains that it's not the vessel traffic on the water causing the whales not to leave but the bridge. Kevin quietly asks, "How do you know this?" As Marisa explains, Kevin does not show much interest other than the fact that he is thankful for them tying. However, others begin to agree with Marisa, but Kevin still doesn't see how they will get the whales out if they can't even get port to restrict the vessel traffic to let the whales through. Marisa finally blurts out, "We have to close the bridge". She then backs up with evidence that the last time the whales came to the inlet, there was no bridge. The whales came in 40 years ago and the bridge wasn't built until 1962. However, Kevin won't budge. He does not want to use an untested idea, even when Naomi tries to stick up for Marisa. Once Kevin says no, Marisa becomes angry and runs off.

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The next day comes around and it's pouring down rain. No one is out and on the waters, so that's good for the whales. Marisa tells her dad that she isn't feeling too well so she doesn't have to go to school and can think about what to do. She has three options: forget about the whales, follow Kevin and Naomi's lead, or somehow convince the council to stop traffic on the bridge. Suddenly, Marisa hears a knock at the door and sees that it's Tal. He comes in and they chat on the couch. Then, he pops the question. He asks Marisa if she would like to accompany him to the "No Wake' meeting and speak to the city council. Marisa agrees to speak in front of the council, but only on one condition. She tells Tal that she has questions about something that they have in common (losing someone you love). Tal agrees, but little does he know. Not too long after Tal leaves, Harris, Jessa, and Lena show up. They ask about the story she told Naomi. Once she told them, Harris told her that she should be telling everybody and that maybe the whales gave her that story for a reason. The four of them head to the boat launch where they see Kevin and Naomi. They head inside the van where Marisa begins looking at the photos of the whales. Kevin sees her looking and lets her know that their is a big stack of photos of Muncher in the back. As she gets to the end of the photos on the table, she notices that Muncher has a slight depression around his blowhole. Marisa feels uneasy. She then runs out and the others follow. She tells them that she has an idea but needs anyone that is willing to help. Finally, she tells the group that in order for the council to understand the whales behavior, they need to think like whales.

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The weather has been bad all week, which isn't good for Marisa's plan. Friday rolls around, and Marisa asks her dad if she can spend the night at Grace's with her and Lena because they have a project due Monday. Before Marisa leaves, she asks her dad if he had known why she left, would he have tried and stop her? She then realizes that her dad does not know about the son that was adopted. She decides to hold off on telling him. She arrives to Grace's house and they get down to business. They go to Grace's dad's office and make 200 copies of flyers. 4am rolls around and and the three girls are up and ready to go. They sneak out of the house, and meet up with Harris at the end of the road. They head out to pt the flyers around town. Grace and Lena get in her dad's old motorboat and Harris and Marisa get in the truck to meet at the bridge. As Marisa hangs up the flyers, she starts playing the 'what if' game and becomes scared.

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Tal picks up Marisa the next morning for the meeting. She gets in the car to see that Grace is joining, too. As they arrive to the meeting, Tal tells Marisa that she is going to be fine. As he walks away, Marisa blurts out that she knows about his daughter. To her surprise, he already knew that she knew. Then, Marisa asks him if he wishes he would have done anything differently. He responds to her with many words of wisdom. As they finish the conversation, Tal hands her Carol Ann's charm bracelet. Bette told Tal to give it to Marisa when he felt the time was right. The charm bracelet was a symbol for courage and strength of character. They enter the room for the meeting and see that it is packed with more then 100 people. Grace and Marisa look at each other shocked that the flyers worked. Finally, it's time for Marisa to give her speech. She starts off with telling that her houseboat was wrecked during the wake, but then decides to change her story and discuss the importance of getting the whales back home. As she is speaking, she closes her eyes and imagines that her mom is there. Marisa finishes off by telling everyone that they can either close the bridge or watch the whales die. As she walks off the stage, the audience applauds. She goes into the hall and is greeted by her friends, Tal, and her dad. She closes her eyes again and sees her mom, but this time, there is a man in his late twenties standing with her.

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As they wait for the final answer, the good news finally comes in. They have ruled to close the bridge for 24 hours to all vehicles except emergency vehicles. In addition, they made a "No Wake Zone" for all vessels entering through the narrows. As Tuesday night rolls around, Marisa calls her dad in the kitchen and tells him that their is a letter that they should read together, so they do. As they finish the letter, Marisa asks her dad how he is feeling. He explains that life is hard and has its ups and downs, and that he's is sure her mom likes her sons name, Ben.

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On November 19, the police park their vehicles on the bridge to make sure no one goes through as they are trying to get the whales out. However, they only have 24 hours to help get the whales out. As the group heads out onto the water, they come to a stop in the middle of the inlet. Naomi takes out the hydrophone to lure the whales towards the bridge, hoping that they follow. As the hydrophone tape comes to an end, they still don't see any whales. So, they use their binoculars and start to look around. That's when they see three groups of whales in the south, west, and in another area!  As the bridge finally gets quite, two groups get closer to the bridge, and Marisa and Naomi start throwing salmon to lure the whales. However, every time, the whales turn back. Then, out of nowhere, the whales begin to chant in different rhythms, but then become synchronized. A few minutes pass, and then one whale takes the lead, L57, Faith. The whales go under, rocking the boats back and forth, as they watch. People on the bridge are cheering and as they look back, they see two whales that have not gone through yet. It is Muncher and his mom! Marina, his mom, lets out a huge blow and goes under and through the bridge. However, Muncher is still circling around down under. Then, as he comes back up, they see that he is still in the inlet and his mom went back to join him.

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"Then the whale Kevin identifies as L26, Baba, turns onto her side and starts pec slapping the water...I think she's trying to get the others motivated!" p. 203.

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"One after another, a dozen whales stick their heads up out of the water, spyhopping. Some follow with a tail slap, a roll, or a breach for a good measure" p. 204

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Marisa wants to follow Muncher and Marina to help them, but Kevin wants to stay back and block the other whales from coming back in. Then, out of nowhere, Marisa steps into one of the tribal members canoes and goes with him. They get close to Muncher and Marina and Marisa tries to tell Marina that she wants the same thing for Muncher as she does. So, she picks up a paddle and hits it hard against the water. Finally, Marina joins in and Muncher follows. Then, Muncher and Marina follow the canoes toward the bridge! As Kevin is turning away to head back, he sees L57, Faith swimming back toward them. He makes one big dive, and just like that, he's gone.

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The next day rolls around, and Marisa heads outside to the quietness of the town. She beings to think about how she had gone from seeing whales for four weeks to no whales at all. Marisa heads to school and is in science class when they are interrupted by Kevin and Naomi with boxes of donuts to show their thanks to everyone that helped. Naomi gives Marisa a big, long hug and whispers, "thank you". After school lets out, Marisa bikes the long way home, stopping by the inlet and filling her water bottle with the inlet water to have something to remember the whales by. As Marisa heads home, she is greeted by her dad. Her dad hands her a slip of paper with a phone number on it and says, "your'e mom wants you to call her, she has some good news". As he says that, he opens a drawer to a stack of letters addressed to Marisa but mailed to her dad. Confused, Marisa takes the mail and walks to her room. Eager to read all of the letters, Marisa opens all letters and skims from one to another, not reading a single one to its full length. The letters talk about how Marisa has an older brother, that her mom gave up for adoption when she was 17 years old. Back then, she was considering ending the pregnancy right then and there, but the whales at the bay near her house gave her hope. Marisa finally forgives her mom. She calls her mom, and as soon as she answers, Marisa talks away. She tells her mom that the next summer, they need to go see the whales, her, her mom, dad, and Ben.

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The scientific name for whales is "Orcinus orca". "Phylum of Chordata, Class Mammalia...Order Cetacea. Suborder Odontoceti, and the Family... is Delphinidae" (p. 32). Marisa's science teacher writes this on the board to begin their lesson on whales, as they have now been seen in the inlet.