At 3pm this afternoon, Captain Gabe and I left the Roche Harbor dock with a Sea Hawk full of excited passengers for our first trip of the day. The air was warm, the sun was high in the sky, and the southern resident killer whales were on the west side heading north. The journey there even more enjoyable than most thanks to the warm weather and non-existent winds. Not a single blanket was used today. When we saw our first spout, we were a little surprised, because there weren't any other boats there. We could see the fleet further south, but they seemed to have missed this northern group. Alone with the whales, we had our engine off for most of the time, and so could listen to each breath as they surfaced. As time went on, we realized how large of a group we had with us, with appearances by the J16s, J19s, J2s, J22s, and K12s, at least. At first, it appeared that they may have been sleeping, surfacing a lot, but swimming slowly. Cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) must remain partially conscience when they sleep, since they have to surface for air, and control the muscles around their blowhole. Shortly thereafter, they must have woken up, and play, they did; breaches, spyhops, rolls, tail, slaps, and more. Fully satisfied with the views we got, we moseyed back to Roche, and prepared for our second trip.
Naturalist Alex
M/V Sea Hawk, San Juan Outiftters