ORCAS
WHALE WATCHING:
AMONG THE STARS OF COAST
WATERS WHALE WATCHING
In recent years, an unprecedented number of
blue whales were sighted grazing above the
deep Guide Canyon west of Long Beach
Peninsula’s northern tip.
Gray whale sightings are routine in during
spring and fall migrations. The Lewis and Clark
Interpretive Center in Cape Disappointment
State Park is a nice place to look for whale
spouts.
For more info, visit www.whalespoken.org
O
f Pacific County’s five major
waterfronts — the Pacific Ocean,
Willapa Bay, the Columbia, Willapa
and Naselle rivers — the Pacific is the
most spectacularly popular. People pour
down to the seashore burbling with a
sort of primeval wonder. The presence
of orcas, sea lions, great white sharks, blue
whales and other superstars of the animal
kingdom is a large part of our fascination with
the outer coast of Washington state.
We have a sudden astonishing ability to peer
down from space and track an orca as he and his
tribe rocket through the cold saltwater just off our
shore. Aided by our satellites, we can see how
swiftly an orca pod can traverse hundreds of
miles of coastline, swimming up to 30 mph,
relentlessly slicing through the ocean like a
human family on an interstate highway vacation
determined to make Reno by nightfall.
Throughout the winter and spring, Pacific
County residents and visitors keep close track of
amazing months-long hunts by the L pod of
Southern Resident Killer Whales, sometimes
joined by members of the J and K pods. All have
been celebrities around Puget Sound and the San
Juan Islands for decades. But only recently has
tagging by the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration allowed us to
systematically keep up with their adventures in
the open ocean, sometimes swimming well
within sight of the Long Beach Peninsula and
Cape Disappointment.
What drives them? Can those enormous
brains discern the distant whispers of delicious
fish or precisely compute the date and place of a
salmon run’s return after three years at sea? Does
something like an air-traffic control screen play
An orca splashes in the waters of the Columbia River with Cape Disappointment Lighthouse in the distance. Orcas
from Puget Sound's famous J, K and L pods are frequent visitors to the mouth of the Columbia, where they hunt
for Chinook salmon. Other orcas from the North Pacific Ocean also spend time here. — PHOTO COURTESY NOAA
across an orca’s cerebral cortex, plotting the
vectors of currents and tides and the flavor of the
sea? Do they experience ecstasy as the cold ocean
massages their smooth, warm skin? Are the deep,
black ocean depths as lovely to them as a clear
blue sky is to us?
We can peek through and catch the slimmest
glimpse of a swirling, mysterious maelstrom in
which warriors undertake epic journeys. Maybe
they quest after adventures as much as they
pursue fish. We know they love Chinook salmon
as much as we do — perhaps more.
What must it be like to be an orca, aside from
us the apex predator of the North Pacific? His
brain five times larger than ours, tagged orca L84
became his species’ unwitting ambassador. In a
better-balanced world, orca scientists would be
simultaneously monitoring the movements of an
ordinary human up in the appalling expanses of
the air-bathed realm.
As it is, keep your eyes open when on the
beach or especially when out on a charter fishing
trip for orcas, humpbacks and other denizens of
the deep. These memories will last a lifetime.
Volunteers Georgeann Silvermann and Richard Cook
look out over the ocean for gray whales at the Lewis
and Clark Interpretive Center at Cape Disappointment
State Park, Washington. Over a five-day period,
Saturday to Wednesday, volunteers at the center count
whales that pass by. — PHOTO BY JOSHUA BESSEX
SOCIAL
MEDIA TIP:
Columbia River whale fans
post up-to-date information
on the Facebook page
Clatsop & Pacific County
Whale Sightings. Join the
group for quick personal
guidance about where and
when whales are being seen.
Rich McQuerry
Broker/Realtor
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On the Long Beach Peninsula
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6 • DISCOVERY COAST 2017-18 • www.chinookobserver.com