The average orca male adult is 26 feet (8 m) long and weighs 8 tons (8,000 kg). Its body is “robust” and its round head has a slight beak. We enjoyed watching it using its paddle-like flippers as it drew itself forward or rolled and lifted them out of the water. Its “blow” was “bushy” and about 10 feet high.
While we only saw this lone male, orcas are highly social. Their pods range in size from 3-40, as they hunt and “play” together. They are referred to as "sea wolves" as their hunting is very efficient and a genuine threat to their prey, such is seals and their young.
As we witnessed, orcas are acrobatic. They, like the humpbacks, will lob-tail, spy-hop, and breach (which we longed to see, but didn’t this time).
The orcas’ dive patterns are variable. They will exhale many blows at short intervals, then will dive 4-10 minutes at a time. Phenomenal!
I used a "process" filter to try to have better contrast in the image here.
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