Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Road Trip Part Four: PODS OF ORCAS

Our Captain, Jeffrey Smith, heard some chatter on his radio about Orca Whales feeding in the Sound not far from our location.  When the David B arrived at the site we could see several whale-watcher boats there full of passengers.  Soon we heard a "WHOOSH" as a black fin broke the water and an orca came up spouting mist. Before long we saw more coming up for air.  

Jeffrey was careful to keep our boat a good distance away from the whales, but we were still able to watch them and get lots of photos.

My video camera is an old Sony with plenty of problems and I was trying to zoom in on the whales while standing on the deck of a boat so the footage was pretty shaky.  The pods of whales stayed in the area long enough for me to get plenty of shots with my Nikon too.

Christine knew a lot about the orcas.  She said this group was called J Pod and each whale was named according to who its mother was and its birth order.

I was super excited to capture some photos of the new baby, J-49.  
He was playing and popping out of the water near his mom, J-37. 

When he got too bouncy a couple of other whales nudged him back and gathered him in.

The following is a video I put together.  You can hear the chug of the David B and also Christine Smith's voice as she tells us about the whales.




Road Trip part 1-Smoke on the Water Fire in the Sky
Road Trip Part 2-Smelled the Mountain Air Man
Road Trip Part 3-On the Ship David B
Road Trip Part 4-Pods of Orcas
Road Trip Part 5-The Problem is All Inside Your Head
Road Trip Part 6-Looking Down On Fishermen
Road Trip Part 7-The Cure for Anything Is Water
Road Trip Part 8-Lighthouses
Road Trip Part 9-Slow Down and Read the Signs
Road Trip Part 10-Fresh Crabs
Road Trip Part 11-Food
Road Trip Part 12-Giants
Road Trip Part 13-Crossing the Deadly Desert


12 comments:

Buttons Thoughts said...

Oh Leenie you have no idea how excited I am I loved your photos but the video blew me away. I love the chugging of the engine and the beautiful Orcas I am so jealous.
I am also so excited that I can finally watch a video and not be out on my front porch freezing. I would have done it for this though. Incredible Thank you B

Anzu said...

Hi! Leenie
I'm glad to see your happy weekend.
Have nice new season !

Leauxra said...

I have to admit I am quite often jealous of your pictures... I need to go outside more.

And Orcas are amazing.

Linda Sue said...

Well done, Leenie! Your film is fabulous. Orcas Oscar For best film.
SO lucky to see the baby and the pod "resting". We do see them frequently but never A BABY, being scooted around by the pod. So dear.

Christine said...

Thank you so much for making this video. That was such a great day! So glad we could meet up with the orcas!

Joanne Noragon said...

How beautiful. Beautifully presented. Thank you.

Maude Lynn said...

What an amazing thing to see!

Val said...

I am not a lover of whales, nor the sea. But those pictures are fantastic.

Anonymous said...

Hi Leenie, what fabulous photos!! I am exceedingly envious! We saw some dolphins one day in Australia, but I was unable to get a photo of them, they were so fast! Anne x

Pearl said...

This kind of stuff makes me happy to be alive.

Pearl

laurak/ForestWalkArt :) said...

wow!! THAT's amazing...your pictures AND the video! i've seen a whale now and then, when at the beach, from the shore...but never from a boat...and not a whole family of them together!! wow!! how exciting.

i loved the sound of the chugging along...and the WHOOSH of the whales!!

Carla said...

We went on a whale watching trip and I spent most of my time with my eye on the viewfinder of my camera. The captain finally told me, "You're missing everything. Put down the camera and just enjoy. Take mental pictures." You got amazing shots!! I think the folks that keep track of the pods would like to have copies of your shots.