J Pod Out West and two long trips west of Victoria. We started off seeing L87 Onyx first then J17 Princess Angeline and her daughters J53 Kiki. We saw J35 Tahlequah who recently gave birth to her daughter, Her calf died shortly after birth. Tahlequah carried her baby girl on her head for 17 days of grieving. This is the longest known grieving period for an Orca. I don’t recall seeing Tahlequah’s son J47 Notch. However, there were Orca spread all over the Strait so he could have been one of those I did not identify.
J22 Oreo and her son J38 Cookie. J16 Slick was there. She recently lost her 3 1/2-year-old daughter Scarlet. Slick’s son and daughter J26 Mike and J42 Echo were there. Whales spread wide and we saw many from a distance.
Fortunately, the weather was nice for both tours today. Lots of foraging going on. They were chasing salmon in circles and pouncing on them. Nice to see them feeding. A lot of the time we were shut down listening to some vocals on the hydrophone. We could hear blows in all directions making your head spin back and forth.
It is this kind of day that is super special. Even though J Pod Out West. We just drift around and observe the whales foraging for salmon. Occasionally one will pop up and say hello. That is what we call being mugged. These beautiful creatures never fail to give me a sense of awe when I am with them. J Pod was spread from Vancouver Island shore to well beyond the USA-Canada border.
