Yesterday Capt. Gave and I did not have very far to go. The breeze was cool and the sun, hot. We headed north to search for our illustrious friends, the southern residents. You know the ones with funny accents, wave at everybody, and drink a lot of sweet tea, you know those folks. Not really these southern residents only eat fish. And we first spotted them right north of Battleship Island outside of Roche Harbor! Sooo close right!?! It was a family of L pod! Which is great because I along with a lot of folks haven't got to see L pod a lot this summer. It was the L-47's! Headed by L47 herself also known as Marina. This family was booking it towards Stuart Island and we watched them as they rounded Turn Point and then we saw the others... More Orcas!! They were meeting up and partying! No punch or sweet tea at this one they were fishing and socializing in Boundary Pass right on the border of Canada and the ol' U.S. Of A. As soon as the L-47s got near the others there were cartwheels and breaching and tail slaps and pectoral slaps galore! Orcas like many intelligent mammals love socializing and like humans may need it to function well so seeing them share their joy and great acrobatics with each other is always something special.
Our second trip was equally as inspiring with a humpback whale surprising us! Yeah I never thought that a 50 ton animal could sneak up on me either... Whoops and we headed to the west side and met up with a bunch of K pod who had also decided that it was time to socialize! Breaching all over the place. What a beautiful day!
Whale folks that's all for today
Naturalist Erick
M/V Seahawk, San Juan Outfitters