Friday, April 27th
...it was about 11a.m. when I heard faint calls on the Orca Sound hydrophones...the
calls lasted only a few minutes...hmm...
...I went outside to scan and "hello!" there was Cappuccino's dorsal fin going down - he was moving fast!...RUN!...................
...I get to the park just in time to see them arriving...they were definitely in a hurry!...Princess Angeline J-17...
...I went outside to scan and "hello!" there was Cappuccino's dorsal fin going down - he was moving fast!...RUN!...................
...I get to the park just in time to see them arriving...they were definitely in a hurry!...Princess Angeline J-17...
...Rhapsody J-32...the entertainer!
...it was Group B and the
K Klik coming south...bet they were going to meet up with Group
A...
...out on Maya's Westside Charters at 1:00 and down island we go...we had heard that the whales were moving up island slowly...
...out on Maya's Westside Charters at 1:00 and down island we go...we had heard that the whales were moving up island slowly...
...Onyx L-87 was quite interesting to watch...very slowly,
rolling onto his side, raising his pec fin, holding it up,
and then letting it slap down with a lazy kind of pec slap...he did this over and over again...
...he did this several times as he slowly moved north behind Granny J-2 and Spieden J-8...
...another whale, who had been moving north, abruptly changed direction, headed down island...she breached a couple times...yes, it was 'the entertainer' J-32!
...he did this several times as he slowly moved north behind Granny J-2 and Spieden J-8...
...another whale, who had been moving north, abruptly changed direction, headed down island...she breached a couple times...yes, it was 'the entertainer' J-32!
...Hy'Shqa J-37
surfaced and logged, then she began above water vocalizing and blowing raspberries...other whales were a couple hundred yards away and we could hear them
vocalizing above surface as well...Hy'Shqa began to slide back down
under and stopped with a spyhop and held it there for a few
seconds...once under the surface the water was so calm, we could see her
'hanging' there, vertical, holding that position for several seconds...then she
surfaced and moved on...and as she did...what a cartwheel! (no one knew at the time that three months later she would have her first offspring!)...darn, that water got in the way of seeing her pregnant belly...
...by now we had seen members of Group A, Group B,
and the K Klik...soon they changed direction and were heading west or
southwest...that's Discovery Island lighthouse on the far right, and a ship
heading west in the Strait of Juan de Fuca...
...they didn't make it up to the park this
afternoon...perhaps they'll be back in the morning - if there is food in the
area that is...
