Orcas

[degsme]

Orcas Johnson Strait

 

[Minotaur]

That is an amazing shot. Did you take that photo? Am I mistaken in seeing the blowhole expelling the air? I like everything about this picture including the color. Nice!

 

[degsme]

Yup I took that shot... That is the air expulsion. Its the male of the resident pod in Johnson Strait. The next day he was chasing one of the trawlers you see in the background and I missed him do a full leap out of the water to catch some of the bycatch the crew was tossing overboard... he is about 1/3 the size of a 60' fishing trawler.

I've got a series more of these that I'll downprocess and upload.

 

[fairsheet]

When I was kid, a pod came into Henderson Bay across from where we lived. Back then, we only knew them as "Killer Whales", so we were scared shitless to go out in the rowboat until about a week after we'd been assured they'd left.

 

[Patrick]

Terrific shot! There's no way I'd go out there, though. Not with Orca out there. I saw the movie with Richard Harris (and forgettably, Bo Derek).

 

[MaryAnne]

As Dave Barry said after going out to see the Orca's."We just paid good money to have an Orca blow his nose on us." )

Seriously,great picture.

 

[gabriel]

lol! we were too!! everyone thought that the rapacious monsters would attack the small boat and eat the passengers!! i later heard a theory that the term killer whale had come from a mistaken translation of a native word for whale killer which makes sense as they do attack whales.!

 

[gabriel]

orcas pose no danger to a boat whatsoever.

 

[Patrick]

orcas pose no danger to a boat whatsoever.

Ha! Depends on the boat. If it's a rowboat or a kayak, oh, yes, they sure can.

 

[gabriel]

of course they COULD. but they dont. i see kayaks out near the orcas constantly. they are not interested.

 

[Patrick]

of course they COULD. but they dont. i see kayaks out near the orcas constantly. they are not interested.

I'll take your word for it. Not interested in testing the theory, though.

 

[degsme]

I'll take your word for it. Not interested in testing the theory, though.

Actually that image was created from shore. The kelp you see in the image is about the 40' depth line and the Orcas would forage right along that line during low tide.

We were also out in the kayaks when the Orcas came through the next day. According to the guides they consider them to be logs. Their hearing is so acute that they can actually hear human conversations on shore as far out as 1 km from shore...

 

[Patrick]

I'm just reminded of a course I took in lifeguarding when I was in high school. The instructor asked what we should do if we're guarding a beach and we see a swimmer being attacked by a marine predator. The guy next to me said, "Stand up in my chair and say, 'Hey, bon appetit.'"