Captain Brian and Naturalist Kevin just called from the Sea Hawk to say they saw all of Jpod and Kpod swimming together in Canadian waters. Nearly 40 killer whales were resting shoulder -to-shoulder and all surfacing together and the same time. They even got another glimpse at little baby K44, who is this first offspring of K27, Deadhead. It seems like everyone on the island is starting to refer to K44 as “Garcia” to keep his name in the Greatful Dead genre. We had a small group on board the Sea Hawk this afternoon, so those families were able to get a lot of one-on-one time with both Brian and Kevin.
Kayak guide Emily just got off the water from her full-day kayak trip and they saw killer whales! Emily said she had few previous reports of whales being nearby, but then all of a sudden the leaders of Jpod came crusin’ by. Emily and her guest estimated about 40 whales (most likely all of J & K) swam past their kayaks. They could see that J2, Granny, was leading the group. They floated in the kelp near Kellet Bluff for over a half hour watching all the whales slowly swim by. There were also full-body breaches, spy-hops, and tail-slaps.
Chase and his guests had a really neat experience on their morning half-day paddle. They were floating very quietly in the kelp forest near Battleship Island. An adult harbor seal was so curious that he came up and kissed there kayaks. He actually came up and bumped his little nose against the boat! They stayed quiet, and for the next 20 minutes, this harbor seal swam under & around their kayaks while splashing water on them.
As a side note, overnight guides Nick and Don & Brittany saw whales during their two separate multi-day expeditions. Nick had a killer whale breach 80 yards from their kayaks when they were near Turn Point on Stuart Island.