Orca Predation!

 We saw a pod of Orcas hunt down and kill a Dall's Porpoise!  WHOA!  We went over to Five Fingers Lighthouse to look for whales, saw a bunch of them, and then spotted the tall fins of the black and whites.  They cruised past us and we turned and followed from a distance and then a bunch of Dall's Porpoise scattered and fled, but the Orcas were in hot pursuit.  They chased it around in a few directions and then pounced on it and threw it in the air a few times until it was too tired to fight, then took it down under water and that was the end of the little guy.  Just after that, a Humpback whale came over and planted itself in the middle of the fray.  I think the Whale was slow in arriving, since they aren't fast, but once the scene stopped moving, got in and tried to keep the whales from eating the kill.  I've read about this happening a few times, where a humpback is defending a kill from the killers, and so we might have seen it happen ourselves.  Watching the power of the Orcas and the size difference between them and the Dall's Porpoise is impressive.  I got a bit of video as well, one part where the Orcas throw the porpoise in the air.  That will come out later, I assure you.
The next day we had great close encounters with humpbacks from a skiff.  I got this picture of one fluking next to the other skiff.

 We also got to see Otters, I'll miss these little guys in Mexico...

 And We went into Red Bluff Bay and did skiff tours there, going up a river that I have been dreaming about going up for years now.  The river was full of salmon and there were a few Brown Bears around.  One looked up from a fish to watch us as we went by...

But it was the Orca that made the week, no doubt.  I have two more weeks left of the season, then southbound to Mexico...