Baby Whales!

As sea kayakers, it's nice to keep in touch with what the neighbours are doing. Even if we're the "light" version of sea kayakers. Because the neighbours are whales.
Yup, killer whales, actually. Orcinus orca. The largest of the dolphin family, they are longer than our kayaks and very big and strong.There are three local pods of resident killer whales: J, K, and L pods, adding up to fewer than a hundred orcas. We've been lucky enough to see them from small boats, when Bernie & I were out in Straitwatch's zodiac, and John & Louise were out whale-watching. Haven't seen them so far from our kayaks. If you're thinking of looking for whales, be sure to check out the laws for viewing whales and other large marine animals.
Still, it's nice to know things are going well enough for the local whales this summer that two babies have been born! Cara Lachmuth from Straitwatch reports: "We've been quite busy on the water and it's been really exciting with two new southern resident calves. On July 6th a first time mom in K pod had a baby (K44), and L pod had a new calf (L118) on June 17th. Both pods have been around the past few days so we've enjoyed seeing the little ones."
Scroll down here on Kayak Yak and look for the earlier blog post that John wrote about when he and Louise went whale-watching this month! One of his photos shows a little baby whale. Odds are, that's one of these two new orcas. Wonderful!