Killers Thrill Us (Orcas, that is)

You couldn’t really say that Sunday, September 23, 2007 got off to a perfect whale watching start. The seas were calm enough, but the skies were gray and a couple of miles outside the Golden Gate Bridge it began to rain. Small, eager drops that coated eyeglasses into disobedience. Wet blue jeans and jacket hoods pasted themselves to those passengers who chose topside over the dry cabin. Then, almost as soon as it began, the rain stopped, and the first of over a dozen Humpback Whales cruised on by. Yet our soaring, collective mood hadn’t seen anything yet...



I will tell the amazing story of the Humpback Whales and the extraordinary behaviors we witnessed Sunday in another blog, but today’s story belongs to 5 Killer Whales (Orcas). Telling their story is starting at the end of our trip because that is when they appeared, after we had reveled in pair after pair, group after group, and single after single Humpback Whale(s) swimming to the north, south, east and west of us. When we thought the day could not get any better. (Ok, so maybe a Great White Shark sighting would have been pretty cool...)



At first we thought we’d spotted some Risso’s Dolphins - their tall dorsal fins can occasionally deceive the Orca-hopeful. Yet there was that improbable report that a fisherman had seen one Orca the day before (surely that was a Risso’s?). No, “LOOK, there are 4 dorsal fins...KILLER WHALES people, we’ve got KILLER WHALES ahead!” And away we went.

Eventually a 5th Orca joined the pod and we followed them for about an hour. We tried to follow at a distance but at one point some of them dove and reappeared behind us and then suddenly they were alongside us! It seemed as if I could reach out and touch 2 of the most beautiful animals in creation.


Sorry, I have no photos of that - I had to stop photographing and just see. My heart was simply beating too hard and I had to memorize that scene in a different way. Those 2 whales were watching us as they passed alongside the boat- it was a time for eye-to-eye contact.



Ed Estes took many, many photos also and both of us will be posting more in this space soon. Not to shortchange our beloved Humpbacks, we’ll have plenty of photos of them from Super Sunday coming too.



Meanwhile, book a trip and come out with us. I know now that if I can, against all odds, see 5 Killer Whales, then there must be a Blue Whale waiting for me (and you) out there!







Photos and Text by Kathleen Jacques.