Sunday, July 18, 2010

Incredible afternoon encounter with J & L-pod and a Gray Whale! July 18, 2010



































Here are a few images from an incredible afternoon encounter with members of J & L-pod and a Gray Whale! We witnessed breaches, spyhops, pectoral slaps and tail slaps from the Orcas, plus listened to some amazing vocalizations on our hydrophone:)

When we had left the Orcas after our morning trip we were a little worried as they were heading towards Vancouver but thankfully they all decided to turn around and head back south. In fact they put on a real burst of speed and most of the Orcas were already south of Lime Kin lighthouse when we encountered them during our afternoon tour:)

Amongst the Orcas we managed to i.d. was J1 "Ruffles" & J2 "Granny" (the oldest male & female in the Southern Resident Orca population), J8 "Spieden", L72 "Racer", L88 "Wavewalker" and L85 "Mystery".

On our way home we stopped at Oak Bay for another lovely encounter with the Gray Whale!



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