This morning and afternoon Sandy King and I visited Dune Peninsula in Tacoma. It was a captivating journey: we saw at least a dozen seals, at least six orcas, blue skies, and more. I hope Sandy got some decent pix of the orcas; she has an iphone.  I don’t. My smartphone is an Android. Picture quality is definitely substandard when compared to an iphone.

 

Sandy and I arranged to meet at the parking lot. We found each other pretty quickly, and then headed to the pathway that would take us around.  Sandy led the way, because she has been there numerous times, and this was my first visit. (It won’t be the last!) We hadn’t seen each other in ages, so we caught up on each other’s lives as we walked, except for whenever a non-human creature appeared nearby (passing dogs on leashes) or farther afield (seals, seagulls, a pod of orcas).

 

For some reason — I said it was because I was with Sandy because she has taken some fabulous pix of resident creatures along Ruston Way in the past; she said it was because I was along because she had never seen so many seals and orcas during a single visit before — the critters were out and about today.  One of the orcas was close enough to us that we could hear it exhale every time it came to the surface. That was really something! It nearly brought me to tears. But so did just seeing the pod out there, wild and free, doing its thing.

 

The orcas didn’t jump or breach, so getting photos of them was tough. They’d only show their dorsal fins and a little bit of white above the surface of the water before submerging again, but they did this over and over for more than half an hour.  I think one was a mother and her calf, because they stayed close together and one was definitely smaller than the other.

 

I will share some of the photos I took immediately below. Then I’ll share the ones Sandy took with her iphone following these, so you can see how amateurish mine look compared to hers!

 

Wake of an orca, Dune Peninsula, November 8, 2024

 

Sandy King, Dune Peninsula, November 8, 2024

Me at Dune Peninsula

Another angle, Dune Peninsula, with Mount Rainier in the background 

Noontime sumptuous meal at Rock the Dock, Tacoma WA

 

 SANDY KING’S IMAGES:

 

There are some experiences that can’t be put into mere words.  I hope the orcas felt the many hearts that were beating at Dune Peninsula today when they appeared.  Everyone fell silent and just marveled. It was magical.

 

For those of you who don’t know Sandy King, please befriend her on Facebook or see her site at  late4dinner.art. She is a true Renaissance woman, with numerous outstanding creative talents (writing, singing and drawing among them).