Orcas !

One of my bucket list things:  getting "up close and personal" with the Orca Whales.
I have always thought they were the most beautiful creatures. So, here we are on the north west tip of Washington, the Olympic Peninsula, along the Strait of Juan de Fuca (channel between Washington and Vancouver Island).
The tourist signs call this the "authentic northwest".  It is very pretty. And we did the whale watch thing..... awesome.  Did you know the Orca is really in the dolphin family, and not a whale at all?   
The "resident pod" in this area number about 59, and most of them are well documented (thru photos) and named and numbered.  Whoever the authorities are that do this, track all the family ties that they can .... this year there are 3 new babies.  The white patches behind the dorsal fin.. called the saddle patch is different for each one, and can be identified that way.  The oldest orca in the resident pod, that they have records for, is 104 years old.  And is nicknamed Granny.... we saw her, and we saw two babies. The boat captain estimated there were about 20 orcas spread out all around our boat. Pretty cool.

The dorsal fin gets as tall as 6 to 7 feet.

this was one of the babies following his mama, he kept jumping and playing around

The "resident" pod lives in these waters year round, and they eat fish only.
The "transient" or migratory pods eat mammals, mostly sea lions.

We are hanging out on the Olympic Peninsula for a couple of weeks... then we'll move over closer to Seattle.  There is a labyrinth of peninsulas, islands and waterways thru here like you wouldn't believe.  The area, though rugged, is highly populated; and there must be a jillion ferries to get you across the waterways..... only ONE bridge.  It's is a real puzzle to figure out how to get where you want to go.

Later, Marilyn
P.S. to Darlene:  on the bike trail there was a shuttle to get us and our bikes back up to the top. The easy way to rough it :-)