Scantlings

And I don't mean my rowdy sailing friends, this time.
This was filmed two days ago in our local waters somewhere between BC and Washington State.

It's always a highlight to see whales, dolpins etc and we are fortunate to see them often when sailing locally. I have seen many orca up close, but I have never seen a Humpback whale up this close in our local waters.

Magnificent mammals

http://saltspringexchange.com/2013/11/27/video-close-encounters-with-humpback-whale/

Very cool! Those guys were hanging around Santa Cruz chowing down on herring, anchovies and sardines for at least a month a bit ago. Now, they're gone, and now I know where.

Went mountain biking the other week, Go every Thursday. On the way home came across a crowd down Rocks Road, (a mile from town centre).
Lots of people stopped to watch the Orca's that had swam into the harbour.
We stopped to watch them for a bit, really awesome to see them, and so close to town!
Forgot about my broken rib(s) for a bit even!

http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news ... aw-a-crowd

While I'm sure this is nothing new for our friends from the PNW, I was amazed at the number of Orca in this video. Perhaps it's the same 10 whales going around again and again saying to each other: "They're too slow to figure out we're just putting them on!" But I loved how obviously the whales were enjoying both looking a the squealing people and splashing to entertain them.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfyVMWuUQnw[/youtube]

BeauV wrote:While I'm sure this is nothing new for our friends from the PNW, I was amazed at the number of Orca in this video. Perhaps it's the same 10 whales going around again and again saying to each other: "They're too slow to figure out we're just putting them on!" But I loved how obviously the whales were enjoying both looking a the squealing people and splashing to entertain them.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfyVMWuUQnw[/youtube]

Really impressive. I lived in the NW about 20 years ago and we saw plenty of Dall's Porpise and Sea Lions but not that many Orca's. It seems that they are much more common now. I hope that is a good sign and not an indication that they are moving inshore in a search for food that is becoming scarce offshore due to overfishing.

Amazing. I think that might make me just a little nervous.

We dove in and swam like crazy after a pair of little humpbacks (one was a real baby) when we spotted them on the way back from a dive, week before last. Daughter got close enough to see the pale underside of a flipper. I saw nothing but blue.