Puget Sound Orcas

[DaveS]

Just as a point of interest.....a guy I used to work with kayaked from Canada to Mexico. His kayak is on display at the REI in Seattle. He had one of his legs amputated after an alcohol impaired driver drove into him at the scene of an accident while working as a paramedic in San Diego. After the accident he moved to Washington, worked as a paramedic with us, then went through the Wa. State Law Enforcement Academy and worked in law enforcement. His kayak cruise down the coast was so he could continue having excitement in his life .

[starcrafttom]

We watched a NG show the other day about how different whale groups feed on different food sources around the world. What I learned, besides that whales will eat almost anything, is that the world is full of them. They show casted whales here in the north west, Californa, both coast of south america, africa, the med and norway. These things are everywhere, which is great , I just never gave it much thought. the local down turn , if it is one, seems to be with in the range of the population over the last 30 years. Maybe 70 to 90 animals is all the local food supply is able to handle.

[thataway]

(I realize that we have a parallel thread--sorry)--Definately there have been some Kayak's and Dory trips down the coast all of the way from Seattle to Mexico--but to my knowlege all of these have been going South bound. (Even going South is not immue to heavy weather, because there are Southerlies about 10% of the time, and the occasional bad storm comes from the South.

Boris, we have been launching the 25 at Dana Point--a bit of a slog to Catalina. (My son lives in San Clemente and we keep the boat in Dana Point). I commuted from Huntington Harbor to Catalina several weeks each summer back in the 70's, when I left my 45 foot sailboat with the family at the Isthums--and even a 25 degree deadrise runabout gets mighty wet and rough in the normal afternoon chop. I didn't realize that there was any free launch along the coast. I suspect my son will check that out. However, I suspect that the extra fuel cost going from Oceanside will more than make up for any cost of launching at San Pedro. Have you tried Sunset Aquitic park ramp--not sure about the $$, but it is also convient, without the "Hurricane Gulch run into San Pedro.
Back on track--almost every year at least several Orca are seen in the Gulf of Mexico--but they don't seem to be resident pods.

[thataway]

Little did I realize that a large pod or Orcas would be seen only 60 miles South of Perdido Pass a few weeks ago (the video was shown on TV tonight). The fishing boat skipper claimed that there were "about 200" whales. I am suspicious about that number--the video only showed about 10 individuals. But still an amazing number this close to the upper Gulf Coast.

[starcrafttom]

Bob for those of use west coast lovers, where is Perdido Pass?? You know nearerst state?

[starcrafttom]

Love google map. never mind I found it. I never think about whales and the south, unless at the beach. Orcas just say cold water to me. After watching that show I was amazed how many there are and how spread out they are around the world. Just this week I got word that part J pod is on the north end of vancouver island while other members of j pod are in tacaoma. They really get around.

[thataway]

For those who have not googled--Perdido Pass, is basically on the line between Florida Panhandle and Alabama. Orange Beach Alabama is on one side, and Pensacola (Perdido Key) is on the other side. (the Florabama Lounge is actually on the line--a couple of miles East of Perdido Pass.

Perdido Pass is 16 miles due South of my house--which is at the head of Perdido bay.

[Pat Anderson]

You can subscribe to an email list called Whale Watch through www.orcanetwork.org. There are daily reports on where the various pods are, it is VERY interesting. These are just reports of sightings that people email in. And you can see Tom is correct, they are actually pretty far-ranging. But Merv is correct too, these pods are called Southern Resident Killer Whales - that is the NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) ESA (Endangered Species Act) designation for them.

And this is a way bigger deal than most people realize. NMFS is still systematically deciding what to restrict or regulate next to protect the whales - they just recently issued an opinion that the FEMA National Flood Insurance Program regulations for Puget Sound are harming the whales and have to be changed - and this is one VERY tenuous connection, I have studied the Biological Opinion closely. It is the result of a lawsuit filed against NMFS by environmental groups who prevailed in the courts. We'll all just have to see what is next - oddly enough NMFS avoids mentioning the most obvious harmful thing - the incredible urbanization in the I-5 corridor directly adjacent to Puget Sound from Everett to Tacoma. The obvious solution is to relocate Seattle and I-5 to, say, Ellensburg...instead they go after flood insurance in Snoqualmie.

[localboy]

The local news just had a report on this "episode". They said the Orca were feeding on tuna. Apparently, the area they were in is not a normal Orca range, so the scientist are baffled. Kinda cool.