Monday 16th June

“A J and L-pod Special”

The morning trip with Captain Brad and marine naturalist Tim zipped across to San Juan Island as we had both heard clicks on the Orcasound hydrophone (www.orcasound.net) earlier that morning, and sure enough when we got to the west side there they were, very spread out and moving in a northerly direction. The first individual we came across was a male, and upon looking more closely we realised it was in-fact L57 (aka Faith, just over 30 yrs of age). Did we have L-pod here? I thought they left out west a few days ago. Mmm. Upon closer identification of the females L57 joined up with, we realised it was J-pod, and Faith was travelling with them. This has been seen before where members from one pod will split off and travel with members of another pod, and it’s common in the case of L-pod members splitting off and joining J’s and K’s. We were able to get some really great passes and see the J16 matriline with 5 members al travelling together. Passengers were thrilled and able to get some great photos of these majestic black and white dolphins.

The afternoon trip was certainly an exciting one, probably one of the best “orca activity” trips I’ve been on so far this season. It was a bit of a trek to get to the J’s and L’s as they had really picked up pace over the last couple of hours and were right up in Swanson Channel heading for Active Pass. But the long journey certainly was worth it when we got there. There were a group of about 10-15 orcas spread out (mainly J’s, some L’s) and they were being exremely active. Cartwheels, breaches, and an insane amount of tailslaps. It was almost as if it was a competition between members of the pod to see how many tailslaps they could do in a row. It was amazing! It appeared to be the juveniles that were being very active, rolling over each other, spyhopping, pec-slapping and exhibiting what truly looked like playful behaviour. They certainly seemed to be enjoying themselves! It’s a very secial occasion when you go out on a trip and get to see these highly social creatures being so active and displaying all these unique behaviours. It seemed as though they were having a party. I wish I was an orca and got invited! Although the trip home to Victoria was a long one it was one talking about the awesome creatures we had seen and how some days you just get lucky. I could literally watch these animals do their thing all day. How lucky this Aussie is to have a job like this ;-)