Yesterday, Capt. Gabe and I hit the watery trail with a good ol' group down to False Bay to see if we could spy us some of the Souther Resident Killer Whales - or Rezzys as we affectionately call them. When first caught sight of them I honestly have to say that I was a little surprised. Because I couldn't really really positively ID any of the few we spotted first. I thought and thought and thought and suddenly Ocean Sun (L-25) popped up near us. It was L pod! This was just the second time that I had seen L pod this summer We have been seeing K pod and J pod hanging with each other a lot this summer, but L pod has been doing their own thing. As the L podders quickly swam by we spotted a whole lot more orcas ready to pass us. It was a lot of J pod and some of K pod all headed north. They quickly moved from super spread out to perfectly lined up in under a minute. Then one of my favorite perspectives on orcas happened as 16 plus orca dorsal fins arose from the water only with so little time in between that it looked like a ragged black fan being opened with young, females, and make dorsal fins mixed in the 'line' up. This was a wonderful moment to consider all their different social behaviors. They had just finished milling and this line up probably indicated that they were about to change into 'travel mode' and they soon started kicking fast past the Lime Kiln Lighthouse! woo!
Whale Folks until next time,
Naturalist Erick
M/V Seahawk, San Juan Outfitters