Yesterday I went to the west side again just to see what was going on, and arrived just in time to see a huge group of playful whales pass by close to shore at Land Bank's Westside Preserve. This was one of those encounters where photos do so much more than words....
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| Nine of the 30 or so whales on the surface at once, heading towards Land Bank |
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| A young whale breaches alongside five others who have just surfaced |
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| A whale surfaces upside down, pec fins in the air |
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| The same whale does an inverted tailslap |
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| The same whale then rolls over and does a pec slap as J27 Blackberry surfaces behind |
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| J28 Polaris surfaces nose-to-nose with her calf J46 Star |
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| A young whale does an inverted spyhop, surfacing between an adult male and a calf |
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| An orca doing an inverted tailslap sends strands of kelp into the air alongside four other whales |
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| J28 Polaris surfaces with a small strand of kelp across her nose |
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| Having seen only J-Pod whales and the L12 subgroup, I was surprised to see L82 Kasatka and her calf L116 pop up |
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| L22 Spirit |
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| L89 Solstice |
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| L85 Mystery with a strand of kelp across his dorsal fin and saddle patch |
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| L41 Mega |
The whole thing only lasted a few minutes, but boy was it amazing! See larger version of all the photos in this photo gallery, where you can also order prints.
2 comments:
Beautiful...such majestic animals.
your pictures these last few days have been phenomenal, monika! i'm thinking that i will give my self a filing-my-dissertation gift and buy one for myself.... or two... or !
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