J Pod off of False Bay

Today we headed out toward the southwestern side of the island, having heard word that J Pod was hanging out around the False Bay area. We arrived to the scene to find J Pod members spread out nearshore and offshore. The group appeared to be fishing, and was spread out around the area. We watched two young members of J Pod, J41, Eclipse, and J40, Suttles exihibiting a behavior that looked like playing with their food. Apparently young orcas aren't much different than young children!
As we cruised offshore, we watched a whale research boat in the process of training a dog to pick up the scent of whale fecal matter, which the researchers aboard are collecting to analyze the fecal matter to obtain different information about the whales. Fecal samples can tell researchers if an orca is a male or female, if a female is pregnant, what an orca has been eating, etc.
We had a wonderful day out on the water. After a couple of days of rain, the skies cleared and the smooth water reflected the pale blue color of the sky. Towards the northern side of the island, we could see a cloud of rain covering the area. Our group was certainly glad to be on the southern side of the island today!

Ashley, Naturalist