The tails of the whales!

What an amazing afternoon! Another international crossing to catch up with our resident Orcas, the J-Pod, in the Gulf Islands, Canada. No worries, no passports needed on this trip! J-Pod was moving a little faster than expected, so we ended up passing Stuart Island, WA and moving towards N. Pender Island, Canada where the "trailers" (the trailing members of J-Pod) were hugging the coast moving nice and slow. We were able to have excellent views the whole time, due in part because these Orcas decided to show off a little for us. There were many tail slaps, as well as constant playing by the J-11 matriline (which includes her 3 offspring, J-27, J-31, J-39) and J-11's sister (J-19) and calf (J-41). (We think the whole J-11 subpod was there! And a few other unidentified members of J-Pod.) We had an extremely lucky day for all photographers onboard to snap some great shots of the whales spy-hopping, breaching and multiple belly rolls....maybe a training session for the younger pod members?? Either way we were all quite pleased with show of social behavior by the J-Pod!

-Jaclyn, naturalist