This evening blew my mind!! nice little whale watching cruise around Vancouver Island last year in September. Then I ran into a few members of J pod, which belong to the Southern Resident Orca population, which is currently at 76 individuals. This population of orca are salmon eating orca - primarily Chinook salmon. Due to their low numbers they are considered to be endangered in both Canadian and US waters.
The colours of the sunset were incredible as myself and some of my guests sat back and enjoyed a pure moment with this young male orca & his mum, whom is always close by.
the heartbreaking thing about this photo is the whale himself, a young male whose identity is J34 aka Doublestuf was found dead, washed up on a beach north of Vancouver a few days later. From the necropsy it appeared the he died from blunt force trauma. At the end of the day he was only just coming into his prime and was by far one of my favourite orca of all time to interact with.
You will be forever missed, buddy
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