September 21, 2006

With no reports of whale sightings, we left the inner harbour this morning to join other boats in a search along the Coast of San Juan Island for the Southern Resident Orcas. This is one of their major summer fishing grounds. Though the residents eluded us this morning, we spent some time with the Harbour seals out on the Chain Islets, watching as they stared back at us with just as much curiosity.

As we set sail from the harbour this afternoon it looked like it was going to be a bumpy ride given the strong winds. However as we rounded the point around Trail Island the sun came out and the waves flattened out brilliantly. We headed toward San Juan Island and soon saw whales everywhere. These whales were part of all three resident pods and collectively become the “Super Pod”. While originally the whales were quite spread out forging for salmon we had several close encounters with both a large male from L-Pod and a mother and her small offspring. We had many great viewing vantages of the whales visiting our vessel as we drifted along happily. Off in the distance were many whales rising to the surface, we could see sprays’ everywhere. Some of the behavioural examples include breaching, spy hops and tail slaps. It was quite a show!

A few lucky people joined us for our last trip of the day. Our first stop was with two humpback whales, a mother and calf. They were located just a few miles from the harbour of Victoria. A few miles southwest of these whales we found four transient orcas (the T30s). We arrived on scene just as they were sharing a kill. Judging by the scraps the seagulls were snatching up, it was probably a Harbour seal. As the sun started to set we headed to Race Rocks to see the many seals and sea lions hauled out on the rocks. We ended with a smooth ride back into Victoria harbour with the setting sun behind us – absolutely beautiful!