Fantastic Sightings

On the way towards the Orcas this morning we had an entourage of Dall's porpoises. In total there were about 15 animals weaving in and out of the pressure wave under our bow. At any given second there were porpoises surfacing right next to us and also just under the water a few feet below us. They cruised along with us for so long that we were able to start picking out identifying features on individual animals. Some of them had nicks in their tails, while others had more white on the upper edge of their tail than others. Others had a bit of algae growth here and there. It was an awesome way to start the day. All of a sudden they all disappeared completely, we looked ahead and could see the blows of the Orcas about a mile distant. We approached slowly, hoisted the mainsail, shut down our engine, dropped the hydrophone and in no time were sailing with the whales while listening to their vocalizations. By this time the sun had even started to show itself. The whales continued to vocalize and echo-locate while they swam along all spread out foraging for salmon. We sailed along with them for some time before starting up again and heading for home through the scenic various waterways that make up the southwestern portion of the Broughton archipelago.

Dall's porpoise under SV Tuan