August 7, 2006

This morning, 3 of our vessels fanned out across the Salish Sea in search of our southern resident orcas. Although we were unsuccessful in our search, it was an outstanding morning on the water. One of our zodiacs, the Aquatic Dancer, headed north towards Turn Point on Stuart Island. On the way, we stopped to visit a Bald Eagle perched on a tree at Bellevue Point, and were amazed as the majestic bird of prey flew over our boat. At Turn Point, one of the most picturesque lighthouses on the coast was even more beautiful with Mount Baker looming in the background. Returning south, we stopped at Mandarte Island, a spectacular seabird colony located east of Sidney Island. There we watched Pelagic Cormorants that nest on the steep cliffs of the western side of the island, and noticed many purple sea stars in the water below. While still on the lookout for orcas, our wildlife tour stopped next at Zero Rock, an amazing reef in west Haro Strait. Today we watched the many Harbour seals sprawled lazily on the rocks. The life of a Harbour seal does not seem too bad! Finally, we finished the morning with a tour of the west coast of Chatham Island, on the lookout for more Harbour seals and other wildlife. Although we did not see any orcas this morning, it was another fantastic trip!

Determined to find some killer whales this afternoon, the Aquatic Dancer headed southwest to Race Rocks on the lookout for transient orcas and hopefully the residents as well. We stopped at Race Rocks first in the fast moving current and noticed a few huge Stellar sea lions basking lazily in the afternoon sun. The many Harbour seals did not seem at all stressed by the presence of the much larger sea lions who have apparently been known to prey on the occasional seal. Continuing southwest we traveled across Juan De Fuca Strait hoping to spy a Humpback whale. Our journey continued as we traveled east off of the southern shoreline of Juan De Fuca strait. Unfortunately this was not to be our day in the whale department, and we concluded our travels with a stop in Chain Islets in Oak Bay. This is an excellent time of year to view Harbour seals and their pups, as we watched one very pregnant female soaking up the rays, looking very much like labour was imminent. Even with the absence of orcas, it was another beautiful day on the water!