We drifted with Olympia and Fissure for about 20 minutes and things were pretty quiet. The two whales would dive for 7 or 8 minutes, then come up and blow a few times and dive again. We suspected they were feeding, perhaps cooperatively since the stayed near each other and come up at the same time.
Suddenly Olympia slapped her tail on the surface of the water with an explosive whack! It was a total surprise and all we could figure was she was alerting Fissure (or us?) that she had had enough and was heading off to feed.
9/18/86 Fissure with Olympia (page #1)
Olympia was a well know matriarch, who had been seen since 1979. Between 1983 and 1996 Olympia had 5 calves.
Two of those (Anchor born 1983 and Cascade born 1987) had calves of their own making Olympia a grandmother! Anchor's calf was born in 1990 (when she was 7), and Cascade's was born in 1996 (when she was 9).
There was no evidence that Fissure was related to Olympia in anyway, they just seemed to be enjoying each others company, diving in sync for over an hour. When she made a deep dive we suspected she was going to leave us.
Two of those (Anchor born 1983 and Cascade born 1987) had calves of their own making Olympia a grandmother! Anchor's calf was born in 1990 (when she was 7), and Cascade's was born in 1996 (when she was 9).
There was no evidence that Fissure was related to Olympia in anyway, they just seemed to be enjoying each others company, diving in sync for over an hour. When she made a deep dive we suspected she was going to leave us.
9/18/86 Second Meeting with Fissure (#2, link)
Two weeks passed before we met Fissure again. This time the sea was choppier than our previous meeting, making it harder to keep track of what was happening. Even so we were able to find two whales blowing about 1/2 mile from each other. It appeared they were diving and coming up at about the same times.
It was hard to chose which to focus on, but when we came to the closest, we recognized it was a well known adult female named Olympia. When she dove we went to the other and sure enough it was Fissure. While watching Fissure, Olympia came over to join him (and us), the two dove in unison, came up close together and circled the boat.
Fissure's dorsal is the closest, Olympia is behind him.
It was hard to chose which to focus on, but when we came to the closest, we recognized it was a well known adult female named Olympia. When she dove we went to the other and sure enough it was Fissure. While watching Fissure, Olympia came over to join him (and us), the two dove in unison, came up close together and circled the boat.
Fissure's dorsal is the closest, Olympia is behind him.
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