On this fine Thursday afternoon, Captain Pete and I departed from Roche Harbor for our second trip of the day. We headed directly for the west side, and assumed we would meet up with the same residents that we had been hanging out with this morning, and were expecting pretty much the same trip we had this morning (fairly active residents, up and down the west side). But my oh my, this second trip was even better than the first.
We came across one matriline after another, after another. These included the J16s, the K12s, and a plenty of others. Eventually, they all met up. Not only did this lead to the usual abundance in surface activity (breaches, tail slaps, cartwheels, pec slaps, etc.), but it was also accompanied by surface vocalizations! FROM EVERYONE. The water was calm and the boats were few, and we could hear them perfectly, each chirp, and squeak and whistle. Everyone on board was exhuberant, but we all listened in silence before turning around and calling it a night. And oh, what a night it was on the water.
Naturalist Alex
M/V Sea Hawk, San Juan Outfitters
P.S. If you don't get the movie reference in the title, drop what you're doing and go watch Finding Nemo. However, when Marlin in Dory get swallowed by the whale and (SPOILER ALERT) shot out it's blowhole, keep in mind that the actual trachea which connects to the blowhole of a whale is not connected to it's esophagus, so that could never happen.