Splashdown

Triple Breach

A couple of days before the Olympic Peninsula circumnavigation we left out of Friday Harbor to go watch the Orcas in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Unlike previous trips it seems like they never turned to pass close to our boat so they were usually very far away. But the first 30 minutes after we arrived on scene they were really putting on a show. We saw lots of spy hops, a simultaneous double breach (no pictures, unfortunately), a sequence of three breaches in quick succession (I got photos of the splash of the first breach and the subsequent two breaches) and a beautiful single breach with Mt. Baker in the background. Luckily I had rented a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens for the occasion from Glazer's Camera (at $30 for one day, a great bargain). It was a bit hard to follow the action and keep things steady on the rolling waves but the lens made for some really great shots as you can see above (those are three of a series of six). Select any of the pictures above to go to the set on Flickr.