Sunday evening.....Pete and I were crossing our fingers, with reports of the Resident Orcas moving south from the Fraser River into US waters, we were hoping the whales would be within our reach. The majority of all 3 pods of Orcas had been at the Fraser River all day, presumably feeding on salmon migrating back to their spawning grounds. It was yet another calm day, with temperatures once again in the high 70s. Off we went....
Luck was with us! Although the whales had changed from a southbound direction to more of an eastbound one...towards Blaine, Washington we made it! The Resident Orcas were spread out, the water was glassy so you could see their blows a mile or 2 out! The lowering sun glistened on their black dorsal fins. We were shut down, as mother K22 (Sekiu) and her son, K33 (Tika) swam off our port bow, then double-backed in the opposite direction. We dropped the hydrophone in at one point and the Orcas were busy vocalizing! There was a possible J pod female travelling with K22 & K33. The occasional breach in the distance could be seen & heard...blubber on water...there's no other sound quite like it! We turned to start heading home, and stopped to get a great look at L41 (Mega) and his grandmom L12 (Alexis). We wanted to make it back to port before dark, so it was time to leave the Orcas as they continued to the east.
The sunset was the finale with the sky turning beautiful shades of pink...I just snapped this photo on my cell phone's camera!
-Jaclyn Van Bourgondien, naturalist
Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. © San Juan Island near Seattle: Home to the Southern Resident Killer Whales
Luck was with us! Although the whales had changed from a southbound direction to more of an eastbound one...towards Blaine, Washington we made it! The Resident Orcas were spread out, the water was glassy so you could see their blows a mile or 2 out! The lowering sun glistened on their black dorsal fins. We were shut down, as mother K22 (Sekiu) and her son, K33 (Tika) swam off our port bow, then double-backed in the opposite direction. We dropped the hydrophone in at one point and the Orcas were busy vocalizing! There was a possible J pod female travelling with K22 & K33. The occasional breach in the distance could be seen & heard...blubber on water...there's no other sound quite like it! We turned to start heading home, and stopped to get a great look at L41 (Mega) and his grandmom L12 (Alexis). We wanted to make it back to port before dark, so it was time to leave the Orcas as they continued to the east.
The sunset was the finale with the sky turning beautiful shades of pink...I just snapped this photo on my cell phone's camera!
-Jaclyn Van Bourgondien, naturalist
Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. © San Juan Island near Seattle: Home to the Southern Resident Killer Whales
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