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Friday, July 9, 2010

Breaching Js and Ks

The 80-90 degree weather we've been having the last few days is pleasantly cool for some of our visitors from elsewhere in the country, but for us this is as hot as it gets in the summer so it has been especially nice to get out on the water. This afternoon was perfect weather for cruising at high speed and enjoying the cool wind aboard the Western Explorer.

We met up with members from J and K Pods between East Point and Point Roberts and arrived just as they were changing direction from heading south to going back north again, maybe back towards the mouth of the Fraser River. I don't know what has gotten into these whales lately (hopefully an abundance of Chinook salmon is playing a role!), but they seem to have been especially active over the last week or so. Today we again saw breach after breach. For starters we followed along K21 Cappuccino and his sister K40 Raggedy, who have been spending a lot of time with J-Pod. Cappuccino breached a couple of times - it is always so impressive to see a big adult male clear the water! Here is J38 Cookie, a seven year old whale about to crash down on a belly flop:


You couldn't ask for a better view of an orca than this one we got right here:


We even saw a couple of almost double breaches. This whale is about to crash down next to the splash of another whale that had just landed:


We're definitely in the middle of harbor seal pupping season right now as well, as on the way home we saw about five mom and pup pairs. I'll have to try and get a better picture of them at some point - we give them a wide berth when they're hauled out and the ones in the water were too quick for me today, but they sure are cute!

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