YES these are Orca whales in the sound--off the coast of WA, in the San Juan Islands. We got lucky--they came right up to the boat--since we can't move within 100 yards of them, getting lucky is the only way for close up shots like this. They were moving very fast, for some reason, and didn't hang around long. The 'J' pod has about 23 whales in it but they don't just stay together--they were all over the place!! They were feeding on the salmon, that the currents were pushing towards the shore of the islands, instead of out to sea. Only this enabled us to get close enuf to see them with this tour boat company, because of 'time'. I hadn't selected a company that guaranteed a 'sighting', just gor very lucky!!