Johnstone Orcas: A slide show

I recently spent some time in Johnstone Strait with the Northern Resident population of killer whales that populates those waters, camping at a spot not far from Robson Bight, where these whales like to gather and rub on the smooth rocks on the beach there. I paddled near the Bight but didn't enter, as it's a boat-free zone.

Above is a slide show I made of a single encounter the early evening of Aug. 19. As you can hear, these whales were more intent on hunting and so were mostly echolocating instead of vocalizing, though one of them shouted in my hydrophone. Still, you get to hear what it's like to get echolocated by an orca here. (One of them, a female, logged along at the surface for a long time near me, rat-a-tatting the whole way, and shrouding herself in a bubble of water that draped over her head and torso.)

Enjoy. I'll have more shortly.