Wednesday, May 30, 2012

A Whale of a Day

Hi All,

Today we were back to work with few seabirds in sight. At about 1:30 we noticed something swimming offshore and it turned out to be a pod of Orcas or "killer whales". They stayed in the same area for over an hour apparently feeding on a school of fish. We saw one big male with a very tall dorsal fin. We also saw about 6 females/juveniles. They would occasionally breach, jumping clear out of the water. It was very exciting and we got to show them to a few lucky visitors.

After work we met another volunteer couple, Art and Janette Carr, in Yachats 12 miles north of the campground. We had a delicious fresh seafood dinner then walked along the ocean path as the sun went down. Quite close offshore we spotted 2 or 3 gray whales and they stayed in the area for the whole time. The surf was pounding and splashing on the rocks and the whales were spouting; it was hard to know where to look first.

Love
Sandy & Carl

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone

A distant shot of a fast moving orca. Still you can see the gray "saddle patch" behind the dorsal fin.
Gray whale spout beyond the surf

Flowers at the edge of the surf

Driftwood in the Setting Sun

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