Isn't the little one cute?!

We spent the afternoon in close proximity to where we were yesterday, just off of San Juan Island. Members of L pod was coming down island at full speed when we got out there! Porpoising as if they had someplace to be......we had a few nice looks at a young Orca calf...possibly L-109 (just over a year old) or L-106 (a 3 year old male) swimming near it's relative L-27? .

We were later caught offguard by a calf coming at our stern, and as required by law, we just shut down waiting for the little one to pass by. Interestingly, he or she was swimming in various directions staying within close proximity to the boat. Perhaps a little curious about the world around him or her? There was a spyhop or two and then the calf swam off. We and another boat were very surprised by a loud splash and then another as the calf did 2 full breaches, entirely clearing the water!! It was awesome! Unfortunately nobody onboard got a photo since we were all so surprised! Everyone, myself included was reminded by how much larger these animals are (even the young ones) when you see the entire body; they look so much smaller when you just see them surface to breathe.

On our way back in we were also excited to see a male Stellar Sea Lion just on Whale Rocks, hauled out holding his head back. This was no California Sea Lion, the Stellar was huge!! The males way up to 2000 lbs!! He made the Harbor Seals look like nothing.

-Jaclyn Van Bourgondien, naturalist