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Orca/humpback double header

9/18/2016

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The day started out with a breaching humpback in Annette Bay.  The whale breached approximately four or five times.  Once it stopped breaching, it began swimming north through Nichols Passage.  It was then that it became apparent that there were actually two or maybe three whales together.  I was never able to get a photograph of the three whales at the surface together, but observed spouting that indicated at least two whales.  
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Approximately 15 minutes after losing sight of the humpbacks, a pod of five orcas were observed swimming south through Nichols Passage.  We launched our boat and spotted the pod near Annette Island across from Mountain Point.  The pod then moved into George Inlet.  While observing them in George Inlet, we noticed spouting a half mile to one mile away from the first pod further in George Inlet.  There were approximately eight orcas in the second pod.  We were able to identify T68 and T68A in the first pod, as we photographed them on March 16, 2016.  I am assuming the second pod were transients as well given their close proximity to each other.  

As we were heading out of George Inlet, a humpback surfaced in front of our boat.  It appeared to be moving in the same direction as the orcas.  We waited for ten minutes in the hopes of getting a photograph, but we never saw the whale surface again.  

I cannot help but wonder if the two species encountered each other.  The humpback appeared to be very large, so I believe it was a full grown adult.  I would really like to know if anything occurred back in George Inlet.   
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