Incredible evening with L-pod! Aug 5th, 2010

Here are a few images from our incredible evening encounter with L-pod!

We encountered L-pod near False Bay and the Orcas were in a very active mood. Not long after we arrived on scene we witnessed some amazing breaches and spyhops! We also had a very nice encounter with L77 "Matia", her sister L94 "Calypso" and L94's calf L113:)

I also managed to identify several other Orcas including L41 "Mega", L12 "Alexis", L22, L79, L89 and several other members of L-pod.

The sky was stunning tonight as we had smoke in the sky from mainland wild fire and it made for a dramatic night sky!

Afternoon adventure with L-pod! Aug 5th, 2010

Here are a few images from our afternoon adventure with L-pod off San Juan Island!

We encountered several members of L-pod just south of Hanna Heights milling and foraging (hunting for Salmon). I managed to identify a number of the Orcas including L85 "Mystery", L87 "Onyx", L89 "Solstice", L79 "Skana" and L22 "Spirit".

Toothed whales such as killer whales use echolocation clicks to "see" their surroundings. Thus they can locate fish in complete darkness. Air passages located just below the blowhole produce the clicks that are focused by the thick oil in the melon, which can be shaped to form an acoustic lens, so they can direct the clicks toward fish. The lower jaw focuses the echoes that reflect off the fish or other objects to the middle ear bones. These echoes allow the Orcas to form an acoustic image in their brain of their surroundings.

J & K-pod in the afternoon! Aug 2nd, 2010.

Here are a few images from this afternoon's excellent encounter with members of J & K-pod including K21 "Cappuccino"!

We headed over towards Lime Kiln Whale Park this afternoon and encountered a very active group of Orcas just south of the park. I managed to identify a number of the Orcas including J34 "Doublestuf", J32 "Rhapsody", K40 "Raggedy" and K21 "Cappuccino".

Whilst we were watching the Orcas move up island K21 made a magnificent Breach a few hundred yards away from our boat, what a wonderful sight!

On our way home we stopped in at Oak Bay and the Chain Islets to show our passengers the Gray Whale and the Harbor Seals & Pups at the Chain Islets:)