Sunday, September 16th

This morning, we headed out towards Hein Bank in hopes of finding the resident orcas which were headed in that direction at the last report last night. At Hein Bank, we scanned the area thoroughly but were unfortunately unsuccesful. The next stop of our journey took us to Whale Rocks, where we found several Steller sea lions. It was a thrill to see these amazing animals and we even saw a couple porpoising. Harbour seals were also present in abundance and we were hoping to see some transient orcas enjoying these orca d'oevres, but alas no luck! To conclude our journey, we travelled through the Chain Islets to view the many seabirds and harbour seals.

This afternoon, we travelled to Haro Strait where we met up with members of our most frequently encountered resident orca group, J-pod that had eluded whale watchers this morning. We started our encounter by visiting with J1 (Ruffles), as the large male was foraging astern of the Orca Spirit. Nearby, we noticed another whale most likely Granny (J2), also in a hunting mode. Finding Granny and Ruffles meant that there was more whales nearby, and it didn't take us long to find another group of 4 whales (most likely J22 and her family). The encounter with this group was amazing, as we heard some spectacular vocals and were treated to some interesting behaviour from the young whale J39. A highlight of the trip was a fabulous spyhop from the same whale (J39). We ended our time with the whales with a great visit with J19 (Shachi) and her young calf (J41). Lots of foraging behaviour was observed from many different whales, which is a good sign. Hopefully the whales are well fed!