August 21, 2006

This morning we traveled east to San Juan Island to look for our resident orcas. After a long search, we encountered the whales offshore of Eagle Point heading towards San Juan Island at a high rate of speed. It was a true nature spectacle this morning as we watched several whales breaching, spyhopping and porpoising! It was a thrilling start to the day.

The afternoon found us again in the waters off southern San Juan Island. Arriving on scene, we were greeted by a large number of K-Pod whales and were thrilled to see the new K-Pod baby (K-41) alive and well, traveling with her mother Sekiu (K-22). We were excited to see this very cute young whale spyhop! It was a great trip as we watched representatives from all 3 pods including Faith (L-57), Mike (J-26) and the always spectacular old male Ruffles (J-1)! As often happens when we encounter "superpod", the whales were very social and we saw several breaches, tail slaps and pectoral slaps. It was another fantastic experience for both the passengers and crew aboard the Orca Spirit.

Our evening trip was spent in the waters off False Bay on San Juan Island in the company of our southern residents. We arrived on scene to find the whales doing what they do best - foraging! Southern resident killer whales spend up to 65 % of their time hunting for salmon. We watched patiently as several whales foraged in the strong tidal currents. After a great pass with K-21 (Cappucino), we left the whales and returned to Victoria. We stopped at the Chain Islets to watch the Harbour seals in the slowly setting sun. It was an excellent way to end another wonderful wildlife experience.