The waiting, as we all know, is the hardest part. For the most part, Keiko has been in a holding pattern in his reintroduction campaign this year, waiting in his Norwegian fjord not only for orca pods to stroll through his neck of the North Atlantic, but also, more recently, for the Keiko Project team to break the connection between him and his human admirers before he could again wander the local fjords.

The team members have had to set up a temporary barrier between Keiko and the sightseeing boats which, thanks to 24 hours of daylight, have increasingly distracted the famous orca from his larger goal of gaining independence. This temporary net simply keeps Keiko away from humans and boats; as human activity diminishes, Keiko will once again be free to come and go as he pleases.

In mid-June, after dealing with this situation for nearly a month, the Keiko Project team was once again ready to take the orca on longer walks. Team members have access to a 57-foot vessel known as the Kompass, which currently serves as the walk boat for Keiko in Norway. The boat, with all its equipment and accommodations, allows the crew to leave the fjord system and move into the North Atlantic for several days, as necessary.

Keiko recently took three walks alongside the Kompass, which not only allowed the orca to stretch his fins and rebuild his stamina, but also allowed long-time Keiko observers to see how far the animal has progressed in a few short years.

"The thing that struck me most in watching Keiko swim alongside the boat is how comfortable and powerful he is in the water," said Richard Farinato, The HSUS's Director of Captive Wildlife Programs, who has been following Keiko's progress for years. "He's just different in the way he looks and the way he acts [compared to a few years ago]."

Case in point, Farinato says: Just four years ago, when Keiko first arrived in Iceland after living in captivity for years, he was swimming mostly on his back, barely using his tail fin, and rarely diving—the kind of behaviors you'd expect from an orca stuck in a tank. But on his three most recent walks alongside the Kompass, he was swimming mostly on his stomach, thrashing his tail up and down, and diving for prolonged periods under the water.

Keiko's first walk took place on Sunday, June 15, under perfect conditions: sunny skies, temperatures hovering in the upper 50s, and the waters smooth as glass. After a small boat ferried team members and observers to the Kompass, which was located farther out in Taknes Bay, one person signaled Keiko to leave his pen through an opening in the net. He quickly moved to the right-hand side of the boat and together they wandered farther out into the massive bay.

Several observers noted that Keiko seemed playful, as much as anyone can determine such behavior. He would vary his speeds, fall behind, and then sprint forward toward the Kompass, sometimes diving under the boat to swim on the other side. "He was having fun," one observer noted about Keiko's three-hour trip that covered about 10 miles in all.

Kenneth Brower, a veteran environmental journalist and author, has been following Keiko since 1998 when the orca still resided at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. He was one of the observers on the Kompass, and what he saw clearly impressed him. Brower noted that Keiko's size and aerobic ability has "grown by leaps and bounds." The writer said that Keiko swims faster and longer underwater than the last time he saw the orca. "He's like a real killer whale," Brower added.

Keiko's second and third walks took place on Monday and Tuesday, June 16 and 17. On the second walk, the Kompass escorted Keiko to Skaalvik fjord, where the killer whale first appeared in Norway in September 2002 after spending several weeks in the wild. Keiko's second trip lasted nearly four hours, but Farinato emphasizes that none of the three walks was designed to "push" the whale. They were just further preparation for longer journeys farther offshore whenever orca pods make an appearance. (Read "Keiko's Norwegian Home Attracts Plenty of Fans, Just Not Whales" for theories on why the orcas are not arriving this year.)

Until the orcas appear, Keiko remains at the ready. His health is terrific, Farinato noted, and his stamina grows with each new walk. Those things are in the Keiko Project team's control. The migrating orca pods are not.