L12's San Juan Island

Today was beautiful on the water. When we arrived at San Juan Island, we found the L12's very widely spread. At times they grouped into 3's and 4's however spent most of their time milling and traveling alone. We did hear on the radio that there was some good breaching action going on however we did not see it. Early on, a young calf passed by our boat making a farting sound (see above photo) out of his blow hole and then spy hopped (above photo). We saw several females swimming independently and one even stopped to play in some kelp (see photo above). We could see Faith L57 and Skana L79 off in the distance, and on our way home, we saw a beautiful pass of Skana L79 (see photo) and then just when we were leaving, he breached right befor the boat however many of us missed the photo op. Today I got confirmation that J42 didn't make it. I suppose it only lived a couple of days.

J K L pods Sooke

As we departed the inner harbour this afternoon, we got word of many groups of orcas coming in from the west. Since the L12's were the only group foraging at San Juan Island today and yesterday, that meant it could be the rest of the southern residents and it was. We found ourselves in an adventurous west coast ride when we found the animals south of Otter Point. We saw just about every behavior possible; multiple breaches (although i missed them :( ), cartwheels, tail slaps, pec slaps, belly rolls, spyhops, speed porpoising, friskyness (L57 / Faith - see above photo), and high persuit hunting. When the water kicks up a bit, the animals are very active and what a show it was! On the way home we were delighted to find 4 Stellar sea lions basking in the sun at Race Rocks.

L 12's / San Juan Island

It was a perfect day on the water today! When we arrived today at San Juan Island, we found the Lpod widely spread over miles. Lots of individual milling and hunting. We saw L41 / Mega swim past with another female, exhibiting beautiful sychronized swimming. A smallish female breached twice right infront of the boat at different times (sorry missed it while watching L41) as well as giving us a spy hop (missed that one too). We also saw L57 / Faith and L71 / Hugo. On our way home we were graced by two orcas, one L71 / Hugo and another smaller female who swam past the boat. If you looked into the distance, you could see alot of action over towards Hein Bank, setting right before Mt Rainer which was visible today.

Northern Resident Killer Whale Highlights

Click to see all the photos!

Lpod is back!

Today was absolutely amazing! Judging by the photos - you can see how socially active the animals were. Lpod was traveling to the south of San Juan Island after arriving at noon today with Kpod - who have been gone for 2 weeks! Apparently there was a meeting of the three pods today (J,K,L) just after lunch time. The L's were spread out into small groups traveling while showing us every kind of behavior. Breaching, speed porpoising, tail lobbing, belly rolls, pecs, spyhopping, line traveling and of course also a bit of "expose" behavior as well! I have been gone all week documenting the northern resident killer whales, what a welcome home indeed!

Today's 5 star catamaran and blackfin cruiser were full, so I rode along with great pacific adventures M.V. King Salmon instead!

In other news ; J-pod attacks on harbor porpoises in July 2005 - Cascadia Research Collective, updated July 16, 2005

Jpod / J1 Stuart Island

It was flat calm today, rainy however a lovely mist / fog painted the landscape. Jpod seemed quite spread out when we arrived, stretching from inshore to quite a ways out. Saw lots of J1 and managed to see his markings nicely today due to the lighting. Saw speed porpoising, milling, spy hopping, a belly roll and a few pec slaps in the distance.

Jpod / J19 calf Stuart Island

What another fantastic trip! Quite dramatic actually. Jpod was travelling southbound - we caught up with them around Stewart Island and the group was spreading out to the middle of Haro Strait.

J19 was seen traveling with her new calf J41. We saw the Center for Whale Research out there also trying to get an ID shot of the new baby. I tryed my darndest to get a shot however the calf never came close enough to our boat to get a great shot. I did however catch a cute profile of mom and baby (above).

The highlight was when one of the animals started to multi-breach just after a massive car container ship passed by. Also saw lots of cartwheels and speed porpoising. One never knows what one will see. It's always an adventure to be had!

L12's

(above - baby orca breaches next to mom)

This evenings trip brought us to Hein Bank and Eagle Point where L12's were feeding. They were quite spread apart when we arrived however they slowly grouped up, then were quite social - tail lobbing, breaching, spyhopping, speed porpoising and more. Be sure to check the flickr orca pool for more baby shots taken this evening!










More highlights from last night's trip that I just had to share :)