What an amazing evening we all had yesterday. As you've probably heard, our Resident Orcas are back in town! As the M/V Sea Lion headed back out for its evening trip, all I could think was 'I can't wait to get back out there'! When we got on seen with the 80+ Killer Whales, it was just incredible to look out at the water and see dorsal fins and breaches everywhere. I've never been surrounded by so many whales before. The feeling was one of sheer awe, excitement, and gratitude.  Every time I turned my head to look at a whale breaching right off the port side of our boat, there was another breach on our starboard side! It was just so surreal to be on the water with the sun setting, listening to the Orcas communicate over the hydrophone, and being surrounded by mammals that you know are on your intelligence level. I felt very fortunate to be able to whiteness such a powerful event of family bonding.Â
I did manage to actually do my job at some point during the trip though, and identified many whales. Throughout the afternoon and evening tip I managed to identify several whales: L-79 Skanna (borne 1989), L-85 Mystery (born 1991), L-41 Mega (borne 1977), L-88 Wave Walker (born 1993),  L-83 (born 1990), J9 (born 1979), J32 (born 1996), J26 Doubble-Stuff (born 1991), J27 Blackberry (born 1991), J37 (born 2001) and her calf J49 (born 2012) were also identified as well. It was a marvelous day that sparked lot's of emotion in us all.
Heather, Naturalist, M/V Sea Lion
San Juan Safaris