Calf surfaces just behind mother. This is often called eschelon swimming, when the baby is just being pulled in adults slip stream.
Aboard the M/V Sea Hawk, guests were excited about reports of transient killer whales off of the shore of county park. However, as we departed Roche Harbor and out of mosquito pass, guests were treated with a surprise! We ran into granny the 105 year old killer whale female and a member of J-Pod! With Oynx shortly behind her, a member of L-pod who consistently travels with J-Pod. Granny frequently leads J-pod in their travels, so we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to travel with Granny and Oynx, then hang around and travel with several other families in J-Pod! After spending over 2hours with the whales, we finally decided to go check out some other wildlife. We boated towards Spieden Island, where we got greats looks at the Sitka deer, bald eagles and harbor seals, including a pup! Harbor seal pups will stay with their mothers until they are 3-4weeks old and then they are left by the mother. This can lead to a high mortality rate in pups; however, that is the circle of life
for the harbor seals.
Overall it was a spectacular day to get to see J-Pod right outside of Roche Harbor and then have the opportunity to check out other wildlife in the area!