Play Time

Today was a longer trip on the water as we went through Peavine Pass and headed past Lummi and Cyprus Islands to get to J-Pod who was swimming around just north of Alden Bank. The trip was scenic and we got a great look at a Bald Eagle who hovered just over the bow.

We first made contact with J-Pod just off Birch Point, WA (on the mainland) and they were in high spirits. We saw cartwheel after cartwheel, spyhops, and belly flops. J-27 was quite popular today and our group got many nice photos of him as well as some excellent spy hops. Spyhopping is the act of coming out of the water vertically, and momentarily staying out of the water in a manner akin to a human treading water. A powerful individual can spyhop as much as half of its body out of the water. Spyhops may well be used so that the whale can examine its surroundings above the surface—for instance to look at prey species in the case of Transient Orcas. For this a spyhop may be more useful than a breach, because the view is held steady for a longer period of time.

There's something magical about seeing these animals jump and play in their own environment of their own will as opposed to doing tricks for a fish. Being on the water with wild orcas is truly a life altering experience.

Megan, Naturalist