Killer whales surfacing in front of the boat

Finally, here are the rest of my killer whale photos!

One of the questions everyone asked me after the trip was: “How close did the killer whales get to the boat?” The photo on the left captured the answer: very close. When these two whales surfaced directly in front of the boat there was a collective gasp from everyone on board.

As I was going through all my pictures, it became obvious that I took several photos of the same killer whale with two notches on the back edge of its dorsal fin. If you look closely at the photo on the right (directly below), you can see a large notch and just above it a much smaller notch.

Killer whale with two notches in dorsal fin

This post also includes photos of one of the killer whales that kept slapping its tail on the surface of the water giving us quite a show.

The rest of the photos are a selection of my favorites that I just wanted to share. Enjoy!

Killer whales including tail show

Killer whale surfacing

Killer whale trio and tail

Killer whale trio

Killer whale with cool white swirl

Killer whale mom and calf

I just wanted to share some of the killer whale photos I took last Thursday. This post features some mom and calf shots. The first one on the left is definitely the best one, it’s clearly a mom and calf.

Unfortunately, my 300mm lens can only get so close, so the calf in the photo below is very difficult to see. If you look really, really close at the whale on the left, there’s a baby in the mist. You might have to trust me on this one since I can’t post the high resolution version of the photo here.

Killer whale mom and tiny calf

In the last photo, the calf is a bit easier to see. Look closely at the whale on the far right, in the mist next to the whale there’s a calf arching its back.

During the whale watching trip, I saw at least two cow/calf pairs, but it’s hard to tell from my photos if I captured both pairs or just one pair three times.

Is anyone out there trying to figure out how to get rid of an old 500mm lens?

Killer whale trio with mom and calf on the right

One of the killer whales I saw

I’m thrilled to say that I had the chance to see killer whales this past Thursday. This was a first for me, I’ve never seen killer whales in the wild before and the entire experience blew me away.

Before launching into what happened, I should explain that I’ve never understood people’s fascination with killer whales. At all the whale conferences I’ve attended, the killer whale researchers are the “cool people” who everyone wants to talk to. I’ve met many people who talk endlessly about killer whales, travel to see killer whales in the wild and are pretty much obsessed with killer whales.

But what’s all this fuss about? I mean don’t get me wrong, I realize killer whales are cool. They are the top ocean predator after all, they sport an unequaled sleek black and white exterior and they are crazy smart. But are people forgetting that some killer whales prey on gray whale calves? That doesn’t seem very sportsmanlike, preying on the helpless and weak. I know, I know, that’s nature…but still…that always rubbed me the wrong way.

Now that I’ve seen killer whales in the wild…I get it. Now I understand people’s obsession with killer whales.

Here’s what happened. On Thursday, I absolutely had to go whale watching. I hadn’t been out on a boat yet, even though it’s almost a month into gray whale watching season. I tried to go whale watching Thursday morning on the Voyager in Redondo Beach, but it just didn’t work out with other projects I needed to get done. Thursday afternoon was looking good though, there has to be a boat going out somewhere…so I called Harbor Breeze Yacht Charters and Cruises in Long Beach to see if they were headed out for some whale watching. Affirmative. They go everyday at 12pm and 3pm. Excellent, sign me up for 3pm.

I rushed down to Long Beach and make it in time to be the first person in line. The 12pm trip returned and I see friends on board looking very excited. “What did you see?” I yelled. One of my friends held up her hand in the shape of an “0.” Oh crap I thought, they saw “0″ as in zero, nothing?! No, the “o” stood for orcas, I was very excited.

One of the oil rigs I was happy to see

The 3pm group hustled onto the boat ready to see orcas. We learned from the crew that they were really far out by the oil rigs, which is about 9 miles offshore. Oh man I hope they are still there, it would be awesome to finally see a killer whale! The boat sped towards the oil rigs, I never thought I would be happy to see an oil rig…but on Thursday I was. Watching the oil rigs loom into view meant we were that much closer to the killer whales.

And there they were…a huge pod of killer whales. Hooray!

It was hard to get a handle on how many whales there were because they were spread out over a large area. Naturalists on board with the Aquarium of the Pacific estimated that there were 30 to 40 killer whales. We saw a couple moms with their calves up close and a large male.

What’s most amazing about seeing killer whales in the wild is feeling the raw natural power they emanate. There’s nothing quite like it that I’ve experienced before. In the the presence of killer whales, it becomes clear that they truly are the ocean’s top predator, they rule the seas and graciously accept us as guests, but they could just as easily choose not to.

And yes, I’m addicted now. I finally get it.

(Note: I’m still going through my photos and will post more soon. In the meantime, if you would like to read more about this offshore group of killer whales, check out this article that ran in the Los Angeles Times.)

Photo credit: Debbie Huxtable

Now that I’ve learned so much about the Adelaide Port River dolphins, I would love to travel to Adelaide and go dolphin watching.  But if I actually invested the time and money to travel all the way to South Australia…would I see any dolphins? And do Wave and her pod hang out in the Port River all the time tail walking?

Thankfully, photographer Paul Huxtable, an Adelaide local and expert dolphin watcher, was able to answer my questions. He explained, “Visitors will most certainly see dolphins every time, but they are wild and as you would appreciate, they do not perform on demand so you need to be patient.”

So the good news is that you will see dolphins, that’s almost guaranteed since Wave and her pod live in the Port River Estuary almost all of the time. The slightly less good news is that tail walking is a bit more unusual, but still a definite possibility.

In general, whale and dolphin watching is Vegas style, you never know what you’re going to get. Sometimes you might see something awesome, other times not a thing. So compared to most whale and dolphin watching opportunities, the Adelaide Port River dolphins are an excellent bet because you will see dolphins and if you hit the jackpot…tail walking.

According to Paul Huxtable, there are two tour boats (Dolphin Explorer and Port Princess Dolphin Cruises) for dolphin watching and visitors can view the dolphins on foot from the river banks and bridges. So on your next trip to Australia you may want to add Adelaide to your destination list, it could be the dolphin watching opportunity of a lifetime!

Photo credit: Debbie Huxtable

Now that we’ve concluded Billie the dolphin’s story, it’s time for a more detailed update on Wave (Billie’s tail walking predecessor).

First a recap: I found out about Wave in April of 2010 from an email that was sent out to marine mammal experts and fans looking for information on dolphin skin conditions. Wave and her calf Tallula were spotted in the Port River with horrible burns, which I wrote about in a post called Mysterious dolphin skin burn including a photo of Wave.

I asked photographer Paul Huxtable via email if he was aware of Wave’s burn and if he had any updates. Well, it turns out that Paul’s wife Debbie alerted marine biologist Dr. Mike Bossley to the situation, which led to the April 2010 email I read looking for information about dolphin burns. Small world!

A year and a half later, Wave and Tallula are doing well. Thankfully, Tallula healed completely, but Wave still has a slight remnant of the burn on her right side. The burn remains mysterious because no one figured out what happened. According to Paul Huxtable, “There are a number of theories emanating from marine biologists around the world who have studied the photos. They [theories] range from the effects of chemical burns from a location on the river, to hot water burns from industrial outlets, however none have been conclusively proven, so I guess we will never know.”

Paul emailed a photo (see above) Debbie took of Wave and Tallula two months into the healing process. At this point Tallula is already healed, while Wave still has a pretty large open sore. Although it’s much better than the original wound, which covered most of the upper right side of her body.

It’s great news that both dolphins recovered, but it’s a bummer that the case remains unsolved. This means that it could happen again, but hopefully it won’t! (For more photos of Wave’s original wound and healing progress, visit Debbie and Paul’s website and check out the Dolphin Injuries page.)

Photo credit: Shane Yeend

Picking up where we left off in the last post...after five years of interacting with Sandy Sanford, a retired policeman, Billy the dolphin stops showing up for early morning swims with the racing horses in 1988.

Here’s the conclusion to this fascinating story from Paul Huxtable:

“Shortly after he [Billy the dolphin] went missing, a dolphin was found trapped and distressed in the Patawalonga Lock at Glenelg Beach, South Australia. Concerned for its well-being, the dolphin was captured and spent three weeks in Marineland at West Beach. During that time it was discovered that the dolphin was a female, so the Marineland staff named her Pat.

Pat was released into the Port River and had the number ’3′ branded on her dorsal fin, indicating she was the third dolphin released from captivity. Marineland has since closed. Dr. Mike Bossley, a local Marine Biologist based in Adelaide, followed her progress and realized after twelve months of observation, that Pat was actually Billy. So Pat was renamed “Billie” in recognition of her female gender. Mike tells me that Sandy took a lot of convincing to accept that Billie was in fact a female dolphin, but he came around.

Photo credit: Debbie Huxtable

Mike and many others observed Billie as she integrated back into the local group of dolphins in the inner Port River and to the astonishment of observers, began to tail-walk (the skill of ‘walking’ backward through the water on their tails). It was thought that she had learned to tail-walk by observing the other captive dolphins at Marineland.

Billie taught many wild dolphins to tail-walk, the most regular of which is Wave, another female dolphin. Wave is now passing this skill on to her calves and other members of the pod.

During her life, Billie gave birth to seven calves, of which only two (Rosso and Marianna) survived to maturity. Billie passed away on August 11, 2009 at the age of 26 years. An autopsy confirmed she was suffering from terminal kidney problems.”

Thanks again to Paul Huxtable for sharing this amazing story! Billie lived an interesting and dramatic life in the Port River, from being orphaned, to swimming with race horses, to being rescued and then released with a new skill…tail walking.

But living in the Port River was hard on Billie, only two out of seven calves survived to adulthood and she passed away before reaching the average lifespan of 30 to 50 years for bottlenose dolphins.

Billie’s memory lives on with Wave and the other tail walking Port River dolphins, but I’m sure she is missed. (For more tail walking photos, visit Paul and Debbie Huxtable’s website.)

Photo credit: Shane Yeend

The story of the Adelaide Port River dolphins is much more interesting than I ever imagined!

To understand how Wave became such a famous tail walking dolphin, we have to revisit the year 1983 where it all started with a man, a dog, a horse and a dolphin named Billy.

Paul Huxtable shared this amazing story via email:

“Sandy Sandford was a retired water policeman. For over 15 years, Sandy used his dinghy to exercise race horses by taking them for a swim in the Port River. He recounted that he first met Billy around 1983 when he and his dog Bib noticed two dolphins during his regular early morning sessions. On that same day, Sandy observed the birth of Billy to one of those dolphins.

Photo credit: Shane Yeend

Soon after the birth, Sandy noticed the mother and the other dolphin having trouble holding the baby up, so Sandy motored over in his dinghy and lent a hand by holding Billy up by the dorsal fin until Billy was able to swim. Approximately 18 months later at a very young age, Billy was orphaned and befriended Sandy, his dog and a few horses, regularly swimming alongside them during training sessions in the Port River.” (Thanks to Paul for sending such a great story.)

Sandy played an integral role in Billy’s life early on, helping the dolphin breathe and then later as a swimming companion in the Port River. For more great photos of Billy swimming with Sandy, Bib and the racing horses, visit Paul’s website Adelaide Port River Dolphins.

But the story gets even more interesting. During 1988, Billy disappeared for three weeks and that’s when we learn how Wave became a tail walker…

Photo credit: Debbie Huxtable

One of the wonderful things about having a website is the ability to connect with people from all over the world. Around Thanksgiving, I received an email from Debbie and Paul Huxtable, a couple who lives in Adelaide, South Australia. Not only are they a couple, but they also happen to be a couple of amazing photographers specializing in wildlife living in and around the Port River, which flows inland through Port Adelaide.

Port Adelaide is a suburb of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia (one of Australia’s six states) and the fifth largest city in Australia. Right on the coast, it’s another bustling urban area with tons of industry based along the Port River. Similar to Los Angeles, local animals have been forced to adapt and cope with humans encroaching on and altering natural habitats.

Debbie and Paul Huxtable contacted me to find out if I would post a link to their Port River Dolphins website on Ocean Wild Things. As I was browsing through their website, something about the dolphin photos seemed very familiar…and then I saw photos of a dolphin tail walking and finally my memory made the connection…that’s Wave the dolphin!

I wrote a post about Wave during Spring of 2010 after receiving an email about a dolphin in Australia with a mysterious skin condition. Wave is one of the famous Port River dolphins that knows how to tail walk and also happened to acquire a horrible skin problem. Ever since I wrote about Wave, I’ve wanted to know more and I realized this was the perfect time to strike a mutually beneficial deal: post the Huxtables website on Ocean Wild Things in exchange for more information on Wave and the Port River dolphins.

The Huxtables graciously agreed and have emailed several amazing photos and fascinating information about the Port River dolphins. Thankfully, Wave is doing well and still tail walking as you can see in the photo above, which was taken a full year after the skin condition surfaced. I love this photo because in the right hand corner there’s a guy standing on the pier taking a photo, but little does he know Wave is tail walking just out of his shot.

Stay tuned for more about the Port River dolphins…a special pod in many ways.

Common dolphin with fishing line

My most recent whale watching trip on Saturday, October 8th was frustrating! The weather was amazing, but as the Voyager headed out from Redondo Beach, the first dolphin we saw had its tail tangled in fishing line.

Right away we could tell something was up because the common dolphin was swimming alone and very erratically. Common dolphins almost always swim in large pods or smaller scouting groups, so spotting a loner isn’t good. And dolphins are master swimmers, so seeing a dolphin that looks like it doesn’t know how to swim is also a very bad sign.

As the common dolphin approached the boat, we realized the tail was wrapped in green fishing line and a lot of fishing line was dragging behind. I wasn’t able to get a photo of the fishing line, but if you look closely at the photo you’ll notice an indentation in the dolphin’s head, this is usually a sign of an unhealthy dolphin, it probably lost weight from not being able to swim and chase fish properly. Another naturalist on board contacted Peter Wallerstein, director of Marine Animal Rescue and he was going to try to send someone out to help the dolphin. That’s the last I heard…

Boat way too close to a blue whale

Then the Voyager headed out to see blue whales lunge feeding in Santa Monica Bay and that’s when we had the chance to see crazy boat drivers. Yes, we did get to see blue whales lunge feeding, but that was spoiled by boats driving so fast into the paths of whales that it was an afternoon of near misses. The boat in the photo on the right was driving super fast straight into the area where all the action was and actually drove right over the same place where one blue whale had just surfaced.

The sailboat below also sailed crazy close to the blue whales as you can see in the picture. Several boats were in violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), which requires vessels to keep a minimum distance of 100 yards from all marine mammals. Are they not aware of the MMPA or do they not care?

Sailboat too close to a blue whale

It’s especially frustrating to see people driving boats dangerously close to blue whales because they’re endangered! Not to mention the fact that hitting the largest animal to ever live on earth could seriously damage your boat. Boaters caught violating the MMPA can face fines of up to $10,000, or criminal prosecution with a fine of up to $100,000 or imprisonment.

So please be careful whale watching this weekend and every weekend…do what’s right and keep endangered blue whales safe by following the guidelines of the MMPA. Don’t we owe them at least that much?!

Two common dolphins surfacing

These are actually dolphin watching photos! We saw three types of dolphins during the all-day ACS whale watching trip: bottlenose dolphins, common dolphins and Risso’s dolphins.

We saw a huge pod of common dolphins that were having a blast. Many came over to the boat to do some bowriding, which is always fun to watch, but what was really cool to see…tons of leaping and breaching dolphins. Several dolphins really caught some serious air with their entire bodies leaving the water before landing with a big splash. A few dolphins looked like they were “standing’ on the water’s surface before falling on their sides or back. They acted like professional entertainers and I loved every minute!

Common dolphins porpoising

I didn’t get very good shots of the bottlenose dolphins because the marine layer was so thick leaving the harbor that they blend in with the water. However, the Risso’s dolphins we found further out where it was clearer. They were hanging out in a group of about six or seven of varying ages.

Risso’s dolphins begin life a dark gray, but as they get older they acquire scrapes and marks, presumably from interacting with each other, which appear white. Risso’s collect more and more scars throughout their life causing the oldest dolphins to appear white.

As you can see (hopefully) in the photos, the white markings look really cool, artistic patterns unique to each dolphin.

Risso's dolphin

Risso's dolphin