Sea Wolf

Words cannot describe the feeling of being in the presence of wild Orcas, the “wolves of the sea”. I had an amazing encounter in Fall 2019, where a pod of these magnificent animals approached our vessel (motor shut off), passing just feet away across the bow. To hear the quiet murmur of the calm water broken by the sound of their breath, and sight of their massive bodies breaking the surface is nothing short of a magical feeling. This Orca is one of the Northern Residents, which are found in the waters from mid-Vancouver Island up to southeast Alaska. They live in close-knit family groups, and have a complicated and unique underwater language. Like so many of the animals in this ecosystem, they rely on salmon populations to survive, and in the case of these Orcas, they eat salmon almost exclusively.