Orcas chase surfers out of the water

[JP4]

Agree.  If you see Orca's nearby, it's probably unlikely there are big sharks in the vicinity.  In my previous life as a wave sailor, we would occasionally see Orcas swimming up the river at the Florence jetty in Oregon, presumably following the salmon.  I always thought that was a pretty cool and unique experience, and not the least bit concerning.

Jeff

[raf]

When I summered in Seattle a while back, I went on whale watch to see Orcas.  Within 5 minutes of seeing them, my amazement turned to profound embarrassment and shame.  Every day these magnificent creatures are "hunted" down by the whale watch boats, sometimes a dozen boats communicating with each other to find the pod.  These are big, loud (L_O_U_D) diesels, and the engines never stop.  If you paused from watching the Orcas for a second and closed your eyes, you would think you were in a very busy commercial port...and then you would open them and see you were miles from civilization, surrounded by beauty. 
Sound transmits 10x more efficiently under water.  The sound of the boats was deafening to me, so it must have been awful to the Orcas.  It was very strange watching kids on the boat looking at the Orcas in the wild and then imaging life for the kid Orcas, swimming with their family, and having this be their new normal....first light, the drone of engines coming closer and closer, and then hovering around all day until dark, only to start again the next day. 
I'm not a crunchy granola type, but I have a particular respect for finned mammals.  If someone feels compelled to watch whales in their natural environment, I believe they should do so with aloha (and on a SUP or sailboat!).

Apologies for the rant/mini-hijack. 

PDX...you should try raw belgian endives in a salad!

[Bean]

I don't completly agree, since dolphins seem to seek us out and play in our bow wake.  (Unless of course that's their way of telling us to take a hike). Getting people onboard boats to watch wales and other sea life might be a great first step in fostering a degree of stewardship that they wouldnt otherwise have. Getting them out there on a human or wind powered craft would definitly be a plus.

[LaPerouseBay]

Every day these magnificent creatures are "hunted" down by the whale watch boats, sometimes a dozen boats communicating with each other to find the pod.  These are big, loud (L_O_U_D) diesels, and the engines never stop. /

Our cattle boats are bad too.  They propped another baby humpback this season. 

It seems logical to install prop guards.  If they shadow the whales and the babies are goofballs - why risk chopping them up?

Sadly, prop guards eat fuel.  So the baby whales have to tough this one out.

[Fishman]

Saw an orca once while surfing Huntington Beach pier back in1978-79. itwas very foggy morning and only 2 other surfers saw it. You should have seen our faces. Thingy is no one else saw it.  It was out past their end of the pier and it made just 2 appearances. Staed out there surfing, just figured the odds were good we were safe. One of those times you didn't mind it being crowed.

[Mcphisto]

That was amazing. The seals and the surfers both hightailing it to shallow water. I'd love to see an Orca in the wild... from a boat or shore.

I remember fishing for pinks just off UBC when the Orcas turned up. I couldn't put a number on how many, they were all around us and as far as you could see! Must have been a number of pods.

As soon as they left and the show was over. Every boat just packed up and went home. All the fish were gone. I'll never forget it.

[PonoBill]

What this thread needs is an Orca that chases your mouse. Fortunately I happen to have one:

http://img0.liveinternet.ru/images/attach/c/5/3970/3970473_sprite198.swf

[headmount]

What this thread needs is an Orca that chases your mouse. Fortunately I happen to have one:

http://img0.liveinternet.ru/images/attach/c/5/3970/3970473_sprite198.swf

Better than a lava lamp

[blackeye]

What this thread needs is an Orca that chases your mouse. Fortunately I happen to have one:

That Orca reminds me of standing against the glass of the Vancouver aquarium back in the day. Same crazed eyes. They especially liked little kids for some reason.

[AirJunky]

From a 19' boat in Dyes Inlet near Silverdale, WA. We had heard that J pod was there feeding on the chum coming down the river & decided to go check them out. It was unreal how friendly & curious they were.

[Blue crab]

12,000 lbs and FAST.  A couple of weeks ago, we did a pre-work DW off of West Seattle and came upon a pod immediately off shore as we were about to put in. The guy I was with had some hesitation about whether to go out as he is relatively new to the sport (not much hesitation on my part as it was a 35 mph low tide gem of a day). By the time we had time to even debate the matter, they were a half mile north of their original spot and nearly out of sight.  If they had any interest in doing humans harm, we'd all be toast out there.