Have you ever looked an Orca in the eye?<\/p>\n
Today I asked for that gift and actually received more than my wildest dreams.<\/p>\n
I went out for an afternoon kayak trip today.\u00a0 Knowing that the currents and the wind were at their calmest, I decided to paddle out to one of the \u2018outer islands\u2019about 300 meters offshore.\u00a0 I went out there with friends yesterday and had so many seals swimming around us I just couldn\u2019t resist going out again.\u00a0 We also have seen a Minke whale not too far from a nearby island and I was hoping to get lucky again.\u00a0 So as I paddled out I asked as I always do to see whales.\u00a0 I hadn\u2019t seen an Orca yet this summer and of course wished for that but since we were having more luck with Minkes I hoped to see one of those.\u00a0 I asked for the whales to come by Swirl Island where I was headed.\u00a0 I asked for them to come by if they were in the neighborhood and it were not too much out of their way.\u00a0 I asked for this specifically to be a kind of sign to me that it was really ok for me to explore in my kayak by myself and that I should not be such a whimp about doing this more often!<\/p>\n
I started to paddle around the island to the west, watching the seals as I went.\u00a0 At one point I, for some reason, turned completely around to look in the opposite direction.\u00a0 When I did this, I saw about a third of a mile away, a huge splash.\u00a0 I knew this could only be a whale!\u00a0 As I wondered if Minke whales breached that fully I saw the dorsal fins of ORCA whales!!!\u00a0 They were breaching, spy-hopping and tail-slapping more than I have ever seen them do.\u00a0 With chills all over my body, I decided to head to the east (the direction they were) and sit in the kelp at the edge of Swirl Island and watch them from that vantage point.\u00a0 Sitting in the kelp stabilizes your boat and keeps it from moving with the current.\u00a0 As I watched I realized that they were indeed coming my way.\u00a0 I asked them with all my heart to please, please come close to this island.\u00a0 Close enough so that I could look at them in the eye and tell them how much I honored them. I saw a few of the pod (a family of whales, usually about 12) going on the outside (the open ocean or straits side) of the island in the distance (Coleville Island).\u00a0 This course put them about 100+m away from the island where I was.\u00a0 thankful just to be able to see them, especially while in my kayak.<\/p>\n
There was blowing and slapping going on all around.\u00a0 They were having a blast!!!!<\/p>\n
As I was thinking this, I saw a large male do a FULL BREACH on the inside of the same island (nearer to the shore) about \u00bc mile from me.\u00a0 He was with 3 other smaller whales.\u00a0 If they kept the course they were taking they would swim right by me!\u00a0 They breached, slapped and spy-hopped their way toward me, it was apparent that they were not going to go in front of me but right into me!\u00a0 I sat calmly as they surfaced about 20m from me, still running a perpendicular course.\u00a0 I was frozen!\u00a0 In a split second the large male broke the surface a paddle length beside me.\u00a0 There was a layer of water surrounding his head and body as he broke the surface but his long dorsal fin was fully out of the water.\u00a0 I gave out a light, \u2018Oh!\u2019 because he was still perpendicular to my boat and so very large and beautiful.\u00a0 My heart raced, and my hair was on end.\u00a0 He carefully dove back into the water at the bow of my boat and glided off.<\/p>\n
I watched them swim off, hearing the blows, watching the breaches, saying thank you so much.\u00a0 I love you!<\/p>\n
As I paddle to shore the tourist whaleboats had arrived and were swarming the pod.\u00a0 Not unlike the way the tour buses swarm the \u2018big cats\u2019 in Kenya.\u00a0 Don\u2019t they know?\u00a0 All they have to do is ask, sit, wait and they will come!<\/p>\n
I have had such experiences in Africa with elephants, but never anything like this.\u00a0 It was definitely a peak experience in my life and I just wanted to share it with you.<\/p>\n
Finally, contact!!!<\/p>\n
BebeD at Openwing dot net<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tell us your animal stories, we would love to hear them! Have you ever looked an Orca in the eye? Today I asked for that gift and actually received more than my wildest dreams. I went out for an afternoon … Continue reading