Pfffffft…by Brad Marks

We are officially on our winter migration south… by way of north. We had Linda’s family Christmas gathering in Des Moines, IA and decided to simply start our trek to Texas directly from there. We had a great time with family, but I keep forgetting what a pain winterized RVing is. Mr. Freeze decided to give us a final reminder of what we were going to miss as the temps dove back down into the teens while there (link here). We looked like the kid from A Christmas Story all layered up in half our packed Texas wardrobe ha! Finally made it below freezeline today, completely de-winterized and life is good beyond this stupid boot I’m lugging around. While we continue defrosting our toes, Brad is going to take the controls and bring you something completely new to Intrigued. I am sure you are going to enjoy it to the very “fin”.

Take it away Brad…

It’s early morning during the second half of our Alaska photo assignment.  The first week was a land tour of the vast wilderness.  The second week was on a giant cruise ship heading south (I can get seasick if not chewing Dramamine like Smarties).  By this time in our journey south Jan and I are used to running to the cabin door to listen to the Captain’s general and wildlife announcements.  On this particular ship, we weren’t able to hear through the cabin door very well.  We heard the usual mellifluous ascending tones bing-bing-bing-bing (please use your musical imagination here), but an a rather unusual time.  Ship’s time was just past 8am and the Captain didn’t usually make announcements until later in the morning.   Jan ran to the door to try to catch the message.

“ . . . has been spotted . . . “    

We both looked at each other wide eyed.

“ . . . off the starboard  . . . “ 

Jan and I grabbed both cameras and headed for the door.

“ . . . about 100 yards ahead of the ship . . . ” 

We are now running down the hall, trying to strap on the 9-pound cameras to keep them from bouncing too much.  The elevators were backed up, we again looked at each other and ran down three flights of stairs. 

“ . . . it is swimming about 50 yards to starboard . . . “

Jan and I end up on the 7^th deck and quickly figured out which way was starboard. 

As we stepped outside . . . nothing. 

During a presentation the night before in the main theatre aboard ship, The Ship Naturalist Robert Raincock (find him here or here) aboard the ship said to listen for the Pfffffft.  This is what the noise sounds like when Orca, or whales in general, expel warm moist air from their lungs as they break the surface of the water.  Remember kids, whales are mammals, not fish.  Not having a whale to watch, we listened. 

Then we heard it . . . “Pfffffft!  Both of our cameras ran at the maximum frames per second they could muster.

Whoa, that ain’t no Dolphin, hit the jump to reveal the source of that sound!

This is one of our first photos up close and personal.  The photo shows a bit of the Pfffffft still hanging in the air. We had a little catch-up to do because the ship was still about 100 yards behind our photo target.

Bing-bing-bing-bing.

“This is the captain, a large male orca has been spotted off the starboard side of the ship, about 50 yards off the rail and 100 yards ahead of us.”

Jan and I started snapping away.  How often do you get to see a “killer whale”, or Orca (Orcinus orca), in the wild let alone close enough to take decent photographs of one?

After reviewing the first photos on the back of the camera (not always a good idea because of the size and level of detail available) the photos looked to be way out of focus.  But once Jan zoomed in a bit, the outline of the whale was crisp and sharp.  The cameras were capturing the water sheeting off its humongous smooth black and grey back.  Look at the bow wave this animal is pushing.  Look for the small notches missing from the back of the giant dorsal fin.

Then he disappeared.  Darn, did we miss out chance?

Pfffffft. 

There it was again.  The orca surfaced about 100 yards further along its path, took a breath, then was gone.  I quickly discovered a pattern in the Pfffffft’s.  The Orca would take a breath every 22 seconds and about 100 yards further along from the last breath.  I could still see rings in the water where it last surfaced.  Doing some quick 3D-spacial estimates, I aimed my camera about 100 yards ahead of the last surface location and tried to allow for the forward motion of the ship.  Bingo.  If an Orca left the train station at 8am moving at 4 MPH, and our ship left at 8:15am moving at 5 MPH in the same direction, when would the ship catch the whale?  And I thought I’d never use algebra in real life, let alone while on vacation.  I still can’t solve it without paper and pencil, though.

Pfffffft.

And then it was gone for nearly two minutes.  Most of the people on the deck standing near us left to go inside to maximize their drinks package for the day.  Jan and I stayed on deck.  Remember the scene in the movie Contact (from the late 1990’s) when the alien signals stopped and everyone panicked?  We stayed put and the signals, er, Pfffffft’s, started all over again. 

Pfffffft.

At this point, the opposite shore isn’t more than a couple of hundred yards away.  The whole channel is only about a half-mile wide, but up to 150 feet deep.  As the ship entered the port area, two tourist whale-watching boats happened to be close by.  One was a simple rubber Zodiak full of tourists that got a bit too close to the whale, IMHO. 

Annoyed, the orca took a couple more breaths and disappeared.  Along with it, any more chances to get photos of this spectacular creature.

It is a little unusual for a male orca to be on his own for very long.  They will slip away, now and then, for hunting based on how their mothers taught them, or for an interlude with a nearby pod.  Orca offspring, males and females, stay with their mothers for life.  We know it’s a male because 1) the dorsal fin is very tall, and 2) the Captain said it was a male.  Like humpbacks, Orca can be identified, not by their tails as much, but by the notches or scars on their dorsal fins and by the shape of the grey “saddle” on their backs.

Jan and I watched for a few more minutes in case it surfaced somewhere else along the path, but saw nothing.  Orcas can hold their breath for up to 15 minutes, plenty of time to casually swim away undetected.  Since the channel we were in was barely a mile wide, it could have easily surfaced on the other side of the ship away from the Zodiak.  No further announcements from the captain about the whale, so it must have decided to swim away to somewhere more peaceful.  Or it was maximizing its drinks and fish package (keeping with the cruise theme). 

Orca are found all over the world’s oceans.  Orca near Alaska live in pods of usually fewer than 40 individuals.  The range for this Orca and its pod can be anywhere between Alaska and Vancouver, BC.

Orca can cruise at 4-8 MPH, underwater, all day long.  That’s like Katie Ledecky or Michael Phelps swimming a 100-meter freestyle (their fastest individual events) hour after hour after hour.  In short bursts, they can approach, or surpass according to some web sites, 35MPH.  Keep in mind that adult males average 6 tons (12,000 lbs.) or more and are 22-26 feet long.  Adult females average 8,000 lbs. and are 19 feet long.  Calves weigh up to 400 lbs. at birth.  One of the largest documented males was 22,000 lbs. and 32 feet in length.  That’s about as big as a full-sized school bus loaded with kids, with large teeth and phenomenal maneuverability.

If all you can see above the water is this tiny bit of a dorsal fin, remember how large the animal is below the surface.  That’s as close to a tail shot as we are going to get for this story.

Thank you for reading.  If you want to see more Orca photos, please visit here.

Credits

Thanks again to Jan for proofreading and editing.  Thanks to Jan for most of the photos in this article.