All three Resident Orca pods were away from the islands for a few days but returned to the area yesterday evening! This afternoon we met up with part of J pod, the J-16s, off of Henry Island. Slick (J-16) is the matriarch of this family and she was hunting with her adult son, Mike (J-26), her adult daughters, Alki (J-36) and Echo (J-42). There are two brand new members to this family as well! The new members are Slick’s daughter, J-50 who was born in December and Alki’s calf, J-52, who was born this March. These two were especially fun to watch as they almost fully come out of the water when they are breathing since they still have not fully mastered surfacing and breathing. This was a great family to watch as they moved together for a while and then separated to continue hunting. As Mike surfaced with his 6-foot tall dorsal fin one child on the boat exclaimed, “This is the best day ever!” and I have to say that I completely agree. After hanging with the J-16s we stopped by Gooch Island to look at some Harbor Seals and a wide array of our local sea bird population and a solitary bald eagle. We even got to stop by the J-16s again and they seemed to be having as much fun as we were when they started to porpoise a little (that’s when they swim really fast and gain speed by coming right to surface of the water to gain some lift as they travel at more than 20 mph!)
Naturalist Erick
M/V Sea Lion, San Juan Safaris
