Photo credit: Jackie Hildering

Photo credit: Edwin van Wijk

From the office:

Our trips today included the incredible delight of seeing one of the 'big boys' in the A36 matriline (fish-eating killer whales), breach repeatedly.  A great shot by 9 year old Edwin from the Netherlands!  While there is little predictability to when the whales might erupt out of the water like this, it does seem to happen more often when the whales are 'social'.

And social they were with our being able to witness the behaviours as the A36s met up with A12 and A34s.  Not only did one of the A36 mature males jump clear out of the water, there was tail and pectoral fin slapping and great vocals.

But...thats not all.  We came across the humpback 'Twister' when Steller sea lions appeared to be interacting with him/her.  Our guests also got a chance to see the churning water resulting from more than a 4' flooding tide allowing for understanding of why this is such a rich ecosystem. 

Further sightings included Dall's porpoise, a small Minke whale interacting with the fish-eating killer whales, many bald eagles, rhinoceros auklets, common murres and Cassin's auklets.

What a day!     Captain Wayne is on days off and we welcome back Captain Larry! 

Next available tour:

Wednesday, July 22, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Thursday, July 23, 2009 at 9:00 am; 1:00 pm and 5:30 pm
Friday, July 24, 2009 at 9:00 am; 1:00 pm and 5:30 pm