Of all the moments from the Alaska cruise, my favorite might have been in Victoria. After having gone on the orca watch, Cody and I returned to the Orca Spirit office, which had a gift shop. Before we had gone out to sea, Cody had selected a stuffy humpback whale as his Victoria keepsake. It was then time to pick our gifts for the girls.
Cody wanted to get them little stuffy orcas. But since we had just learned quite a lot about orcas, he was nervous. This is the conversation that followed:
CJP: Actually, I don't think we should get them orcas.
JVL: Why not?
CJP: Because orcas eat other animals and if we get them they'll try to eat Harbor Seal and Bailey. [Bailey is his stuffy dolphin.]
JVL: Oh no. Remember, only Off-Shore and Transient orcas eat mammals. Resident orcas only eat fish. Never sea mammals.
CJP: And these stuffies are resident orcas?
JVL: Yup.
CJP: Are you sure?
JVL: Absolutely.
CJP: That's no good. I have a stuffed fish, too. I can't have the girls' orcas trying to eat her.
JVL: You don't have to worry. Your fish is a trout and Resident orcas only eat salmon--salmon and no other fish. Your fish doesn't even have to worry about Humpback eating her, because remember, humpback whales have very narrow throats and only eat very tiny fish.
CJP: And you're
sure that these are Resident orcas?
JVL: Oh yes. Just look at their eyes. They're very kind and Resident orcas are the kindest orcas. They live in big pods and are very social. These orcas are clearly social.
Here, Cody thought for a moment. And then he announced, "Great. Let's get them, then. The girls will love them. And I'll explain to my other stuffies that they don't have anything to worry about because the new orcas are residents."
It's important to understand that this entire conversation was held in complete seriousness.
