Many years ago when I was at Sea Otter Island at a time way before I started Ocean Kayak we heard there was an Orca whale in our little Bay. The old lady from the First Nation Reserve said it had been years since the last Orca was in here. As we approached the only exit he had we saw a 7 foot high fin coming towards us. We held our breath. Tony and Doreen from the reserve were with us and Doreen was starting to freak out. We pulled over to the side of the 70 foot wide inlet and saw the whale turn on his side underwater so his fin was under water. Then we got the picture here. I hadn't been that close before.

Fast forward to a few years ago when I have my own kids and we hear of a tame Orca. We go by and see another boat with this whale and people touching it. The whale broke away from them and came over to see us.

There was a complete feeling of calm and safety around this animal. There was a lot of controversy about interaction with the whale. Later I leaned that the whale won the hearts of the people trying to keep others away. The native people claimed it was their ancestor. With federal elections in Canada coming up the government didn't do anything because they thought it might backfire.

My daughter stroked the whale with a paint brush and the whale liked the feeling and we heard they are very sensitive to touch. It liked it when you touched it's tongue. Should we interact or not. Are we part of nature or are we separate?

This was an amazing experience. Orca whales are one of the only species that mature and leave home at around 18 years old like humans. They live about the same. Luna was his name and later died.