Orcas

yesterday i saw Orcas from a beach on San Juan island. Tema, who is doing research on Orca tourism, took me to Lime beach. As we were approaching, we first heard what's known on the island as an Orca-gasm or people screaming exstatically at the sight of the giant creatures. then as we got to the beach, we saw a pod of 10 Orcas (known as the L pod) swim right by us, slowly in a generously spread-out procession. see one of them blowing water out?

some of them stopped right in front of us and started (what looked like to me) playing! Some swam on their backs under water, some jumped out and were doing body flips, twisting along their torso. Then the pod turned around and as they swam back, three orcas started jumping (breaching) out of the water. One time all three were breaching at once. It was amazing to see such large creatures being so light and playful. here they are swimming by me! this close, i was about 15 feet away!