Okay, okay, really bad pun, but it does describe what I saw today! After a two day absence the Southern Residents made their way back in from the open ocean and on the Western Explorer this morning we met up with L-Pod heading out from Cattle Pass towards Hein Bank.
First of all, though, check out this beauty of a common murre that was not camera shy (or boat shy) at all. There were lots of murres out and about today!
First of all, though, check out this beauty of a common murre that was not camera shy (or boat shy) at all. There were lots of murres out and about today!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDgt0hs2E9JbafIxptneYl8_9X91NF20lPsMXdIO_JFRSxPZfEjK0vDArd5rVMCqYv_IuSMDdHej9KoR51gHWF21-xgkDfX7UJJyXVWHlt4JAroXDqS3l8I8FcUb3R16-JhVzGkpzo88c/s400/CommonMurre.jpg)
When we got on scene with the whales they were zig-zagging a lot, but we finally found a nice group of about half a dozen animals that had a destination in mind, and we were able to parallel them as they traveled south at a speed of about 7 knots. Closest to us was the 16 year-old male L89 Solstice. It looks like he's starting to get a little bit of a "wave" to his fin, too, kind of like we see on J27 Blackberry:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYJ5i-nUNQiGZS48mRl_xYlBYVVj1DlwYdRi1yxq4pCYe93PwERoC7s24D6JUUauXYKPfzGdQnv5gL5zdMk4nL3wdvvbONcJn7FFLHKWrfnRJN9HBsigTkQZpnogx2dfqZbY8nTjojg2k/s400/L89Solstice.jpg)
Solstice belongs to a sub-group of L-Pod known as the L12s who often travel separate from the rest of L-Pod. Several other of these whales were present, too, like Solstice's mom L22 Spirit, but it wasn't until I got home and looked at my photos that I figured out a couple of the other whales we were looking at were L2 Grace and her son L78 Gaia, who are pictured here with a sailboat in the background:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdOdzwZSiLmE-azIYLabB8XJH0qlPGy1wlAjvaLdiWh9IHtGHpPJxq5MDHEyBODXC4T02jl_eOo47PjsZ5OB9pvFj_EBMS9WwUmrboJownS1g-AtIoEMgTXa5HV_ROL62TZ76Qitt3tPM/s400/L2L78Sailboat.jpg)
Did you join us on this or another trip with Western Prince? We always appreciate your reviews on Trip Advisor.
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