Wednesday, August 29

We started our morning trip by heading out West from Victoria harbour towards San Juan Island, with the hope of finding the resident orcas who had been in the area the day before. On the way we stopped off at the Chain Islands to view the harbour seals, basking in the lovely morning sunshine. As we moved away and headed out by Discovery Island, the call came in that the resident orcas had been spotted just south of the harbour! After a swift U-turn by John, we were soon speeding back towards the harbour. We found the orcas just a few kilometres south-west of Victoria and were ecstatic to see that it was a superpod, when all three of the resident pods mix together! There were whales all around with several small groups spyhopping, breaching and tail slapping. With the engine turned off the whales were getting closer to the boat and we were rewarded with a close up view of Ruffles, the adult male from J Pod who has a very distinctive dorsal fin, not surprisingly it has a ruffle in it (see photo below)! The hydrophone was picking up lots of vocalisation from the groups. As the pods continued to swim east up the Juan de Fuca Strait, we eventually broke away and headed west towards Race Rocks. We had great views of the California and Steller Sea Lions as well as more harbour seals - you've guessed it - sunbathing! The sea lions were more active, with several male Steller sea lions jostling for position on the rocks and the Californian seal lions barking loudly.

In the afternoon, we headed out east from the harbour, this time knowing that the resident orcas were in the area. We soon caught up the superpod again feeding off Pile Point at the south-west tip of San Juan Island. This is a favourite feeding spot for the residents, hunting for salmon. Once again we were surrounded by orcas and it was difficult to know in which direction to look. With the engines turned off, several orcas were swimming close to the boat including an adult male from L pod, known as Gaia or L78. Everyone was impressed with his 6 foot high dorsal fin within metres of the boat. Another individual gave a great display of their white underside when they rolled over on their back just off the end of the boat. The hydrophone was once again buzzing with the vocalisations from the whales all around. But alas, it was soon time to return to harbour so we left the whales still feeding and returned to Victoria. On the way back we stopped off at the Chain Islands where we spotted cormorants and a great blue heron and yes, the harbour seal were still sunbathing!

Monday, August 27

For the morning trip we travelled South out into the Juan de Fuca Strait, beyond race rocks and round to the West searching for any sign of whales. After a while we received a report of Transient Orcas in the area. There was a mature male with the group who was identified as T44, and there was also a fairly new addition to the pod, a small juvenile of under a year old. The behaviour seemed to suggest they were hunting just below the surface, searching for marine mammals such as seals that had also come to feed in the area. After some good views of the passing transients, we headed back to Victoria with a quick stop at Race rocks. Here we spotted many seals and sea lions, with some of the California sea lions swimming and frolicking around in the bull kelp in the surrounding waters.

This afternoon was an extraordinary trip. The waters around Victoria seemed to be teeming with transient orcas! There were 3 different group of transient orcas in the area this afternoon and passengers aboard the Orca Spirit spent time with all three groups. We started our adventure visiting with the T41 group near William Head. This spectacular pod of transients is a regular visitor to our area, and we were pleased to see the group of orcas return. Our passengers were thrilled at the sight of T44, the large male transient and were also awestruck by a cute young calf - a new addition since the last time this naturalist (Corey) saw them! The next part of our voyage took us near Race Rocks where we encountered a larger group of transients that included another large male (T20). The large male put on quite a show for us, tail lobbing and tail slapping! Most of the large group of orcas were in a very playful mood. What was even more astounding was that our hydrophones picked up the whales vocalizing. Transients are seldom heard so this was a real treat indeed. After an awesome pass from the group of transients, our alert captain noticed yet another group of 4 transients south of the main group. We travelled slowly west with the group before heading to Race Rocks and its abundant California and Steller sea lions. Among other things, we noticed a porpoising California sea lion! Finally, we returned to Victoria Harbour where unexpectedly the T41 group were foraging at the mouth of the harbour! This was an incredible trip. We are always excited by any visit from these top predators, although I can imagine that there are many seals, sea lions and porpoises in the area who don't share our enthusiasm.

Just wanted to tell you, once again, that we had a wonderful time on August 8 (1 p.m. trip), thanks in no small part to the skill and knowledge of our pilot, Christian.
Leon and Patricia Rucker

Sunday, August 26

This morning, we travelled east towards the San Juan Islands in our search of orcas. Despite a great search effort that took us all the way into Rosario Strait, we were unable to find whales this morning. However, we had an enjoyable trip despite the elusiveness of our cetaceans.. After venturing east to the bottom end of Lopez Island, we travelled up the west coast of San Juan Island north of Lime Kiln State Park. There we viewed an enormous bald eagle nest. Below the nest, we noticed a cute, curious, cuddly seal pup playing in the bull kelp below the nest. Our next stop took us back west towards Victoria where we toured the west side of Chatham Island. We watched a magnificent great blue heron, saw several more harbour seals and even admired some intertidal life as we noticed a couple of sea stars at low tide. The choppy waters made for a nice adventure in the Salish Sea.

With reports of transient orcas in Boundary Pass at noon, our 1 pm Orca Spirit travelled north into Plumper Sound to view the mammal hunting orcas. Shortly before arriving on scene, our captain noticed a mature bald eagle at the southern entrance to the sound. We spent a brief time admiring the majestic raptor before continuing north where we found a small group of 3 transients travelling along the west side of the sound. The group of whales included a large mature male, although it was difficult to identify who they were. On our return to Victoria, we enjoyed a high-speed scenic tour along the coast of Speiden Island where observant passengers noticed some exotic game islands and another magnificent eagle. We stopped briefly at Sidney Island to view an eagle nest. As we passed quickly by D'arcy Island, our passengers learned of its infamous history as a former leper colony. Finally, we stopped at Zero Rock to view a large number of the transient orcas favourite food item - the harbour seal.


Saturday, August 25

Our morning trip was very exciting as we headed east towards Rosario Strait in search of Orcas. On our way there we had to cross the Haro Strait, a body of water that has San Juan Island to one side and Vancouver Island on the other. The seas in the area were choppy but once we made it to the other side, our guests were rewarded as we had amazing views of our resident orcas. We had a nice pass by Raggedy, indicating that we were looking at members of K-pod. For the afternoon we headed over to the same area and at this point the whales were located in the Haro Strait, which had calmed down considerably. We had a great breach from Mega, a large male from L-pod and saw a number of groups of whales including a baby that may have been the new born identified last week, L110.

Friday, August 24

On the morning tour, we travelled to False Bay on San Juan Island where we received word that orcas were in the area. As we arrived on scene, we found several killer whales travelling southbound in the fog. We saw several whales during the tour, with the highlight being a wonderful visit from Ruffles (J1), the oldest male in J pod. It was a remarkable tour, made even more so when were able to eavesdrop on the whale conversations using our hydrophone.

This afternoon, we headed to San Juan Island, where we met up with J pod near Hannah Heights. On this spectacular trip, our passengers were able to see some of the amazing behaviours that make each trip unique and exciting. We witnessed some high-speed porpoising, a wonderful "baby breach" and some excellent percussive (tail slapping) behaviour. As we were leaving the scene, a couple of brown pelicans soared over the water near our vessel. It was a treat to see these majestic birds that our a rare sight in these area. We concluded our afternoon tour with a trip through the Chain Islets and Great Chain Island.

Thursday, August 23

This morning was an excellent tour aboard the Orca Spirit. We started our adventure with an excellent visit with a female orca and two young calves, most likely L55 and her two youngest offspring. The whales were active this morning. We were treated to some breaching, a spyhop and some excellent percussive behaviour (tail and pectoral fin slapping). A highlight of the trip was a visit from Mega (L41), who thrilled our passengers and crew with a spectacular pass.! On our return journey, we stopped in the Chain Islets, for a wildlife tour where we saw several harbour seals, including some young pups.

Our afternoon trip aboard the Orca Spirit headed east to the southern edge of Lopez Island where we met up with members of all three pods as they met up in Rosario Strait. This was an absolutely amazing trip as guests were treated to some tremendous vocalizations and an incredible array of killer whale behaviour as the pods converged. For the first part of the trip, we spent some time with a small group of L-pod whales that included a young calf. The active group of whales were thrilling our passengers with some fascinating inverted tail slapping. We witnessed numerous spyhops as well along with a few breaches! Our time with the whales included a visit with Cappucino (K21), the large mature male in K pod (born 1986). To end our time with the whales, we had a wonderful pass with Alexis (L12), a matriarch in L pod that may be 74 years old!


Wednesday, August 22

As we headed out of Victoria harbour into the Juan de Fuca Strait, it was a dull and misty day, with a chill in the air. On the Pacific Explorer we travelled East towards San Juan Islands, and as the previous day had found no resident Orcas, we were on full search mode.
Our Captain, John, called one of the network of spotters on land for a report on any possible activity and was told we should head towards Lime Kiln Lighthouse, one of the best places on land to view the Southern resident whales. As we crossed the border into American waters the sun began to appear from behind the clouds and the flat calm waters made it easy to spot any movement on the surface. We heard John call down from the wheelhouse, "whales breaching ahead!!". Everyone moved to get a better look and we could see frantic activity from a number of Orcas close in to shore. We were still some distance away so it was obvious they were putting on a good display.
As we neared we could see individuals spread out over a wide area, giving us plenty of opportunities to just watch them as they passed by. There were various feeding behaviours being displayed, much thrashing about just under the water, along with the breaching we had first encountered and some tail lobbing to round it all off. We realised we were watching J pod when Nicole identified Ruffles and Granny, the old lady of the Southern residents at over 90 years of age. It seemed it was all too soon time to head back to Victoria, and as we left the pod behind still active in the late morning sun, the mist was clearing and everyone commented on what a great trip it had been.

The afternoon was full of expectation, we had a fairly good idea we would find our residents again as we had only been watching a small group of what had been a super pod. This is when all 3 of the resident pods are mixing together to travel or feed, and finds up to 90 individuals spread out of a large area. Again we headed East, this time to Salmon bank, an area where Minke whales are often found feeding. As we arrived the group on board were pointing out numerous spouts and fins as far as the eye could see in all directions. This time we were watching a mixed bag of individuals from pods J and K, and they tended to be in small groups of just a few whales, less to share around when do find that all important catch! The whales would change direction and quickly dive, then the tip of the dorsal fin would skim the top of the water, churning it up as they seemed to dart after the fish that were just below the surface. The odd fish would jump clear of the water at times, possible a last ditch attempt at freedom! We encountered a full range of behaviours, but less frequently than on the morning trip, which often caught our photographers on board off guard, and there were more than a few lovely photos of the splash left behind by an active Orca.
As we departed, the whales were headed South away from shore and further out into the Strait. On the way back to Victoria we had a chance to stop of at Chain Islands, where we spotted the Cormorants, and there nest of sticks, but only a small number of harbour seals today hauled out on the rocks.
When we headed out for our evening trip, the whales and changed direction and were heading more North, still towards the direction of the San Juan Island group but a little closer to Victoria. We neared False Bay and again were greeted with the signs of Orcas all around. At first they were at quite a distance, but as patience often rewards in wildlife watching, John switched off the engine and we just watched as the Orcas travelled across the water. The Hydrophone picked up the clicks of their echolocation, only now and again did we hear the odd squeak of communication as feeding still appeared to be the number one aim. We heard the clicks getting louder so we knew the whales were getting closer so it was just a case of when one would surface, and suddenly it seemed they were all around! We watched one male as he came in our direction towards the stern of the boat, and looking to see where he would next appear, we were given a display of a perfect spy hop in close proximity. We observed another pair of whales take a dive beyond the boat, and as we looked in the water, saw the big white patches glide past the length of the boat and the larger of the 2 turned on its side looking up at the surface. Maybe it was more a case of people watching than whale watching! One boy spotted bubbles under the boat, and as we looked, another whale surfaced just off to the port side.
This was L pod on full display, and we spotted a very small juvenile, which may have been the newest addition to L pod at less than one week old. John was reluctant to leave such and active group on a beautiful evening, but it was time to return at the end of the day. As we left the whales behind, there were a couple of them playing about in the bull kelp in the shallows, tail lobbing and lifting the seaweed out of the water. It was the perfect end to a great day of wildlife watching.

Tuesday, August 21

This morning’s trip was a challenge to find wildlife as the western coast fog was nice and thick. We did have some nice views of the Harbour Seals hauled out on the rocks on the Chain Islands. We then made our way over to Race Rocks where we saw the Sea Lions resting on the rocks. Our patience did pay off because we finally heard word of a Humpback just east of Race and made our way over and had some fantastic views of the large whale.

For the afternoon trip we had a wildlife fiasco. We began our trip by going to visit the Humpback that we had seen in the morning. After viewing the Humpback for a nice period of time we were pleasantly surprised to have Transient Orcas swim right by us. The pod had one large male and three or four juvenile males and/or females. So we had orcas swimming by with the Humpback following behind, porpoises were seen coming up for breaths of air and even an Elephant Seal poked his head out during our trip, what a great afternoon along the Juan de Fuca Strait.

For the evening trip, the Transient Orcas had traveled far west along the Juan de Fuca Strait. We decided to take a chance and try to catch up with the whales. And we were rewarded! We caught up with the pod at Otter Point and had some nice views of all the whales traveling. We even had time on our trip back to stop by Race Rocks, where we saw California and Stellar Sea Lions. We could hear the different calls from the species as a few of them fought for spots on the rocks.

Monday, August 20

For our morning trip we were pleasantly surprised to hear that Transient Orcas were spotted at the southern edge of Victoria at Ten Mile Point. When we arrived on scene we discovered the transient group and sat and watched them as they kept swimming back and forth in the same area. We think they must have been hunting and that possibly one of the large males did in fact catch a prey although we didn’t actually observe prey in their mouth. The group eventually began traveling and started heading west towards the Great Chain Islands. We eventually left the pod to observe Cormorants and Harbour Seals among the Chain Islands and made one last stop at Trial Island to view a pair of Bald Eagles before heading back to the harbour.


By the time our boat left for the afternoon trip, the group of transient orcas was south west of the harbour. We arrived on scene very quickly and observed the transient group as they continued south. A Sea Lion and a Harbour Seal were spotted swimming in the water near the Transient Orcas, both mammals that the transient would feed on if the opportunity arose. We then left the Transient Orcas to go visit a Humpback Whale. The Humpback was happily playing in a tideline full of Bull Kelp and rose multiple times with the seaweed dangling from his head (see photos). After some nice views from the Humpback we drove back to Victoria, stopping to visit Race Rocks along the way.

Sunday, August 19th

Our 9 am tour aboard the Orca Spirit headed out into Juan De Fuca Strait in search of orcas and other cetaceans that abound in the Salish Sea. We headed west past Race Rocks Ecological Reserve into Whirl Bay where the eagle eye of our captain(pardon the pun) noticed a large raptor perched in a tree. Seeing bald eagles on a tour is always a thrill, as we admired the majestic bird of prey in the light rain showers - the true west coast experience. Also present in the bay was a great blue heron! We continued our journey west and eventually did a large sweep to the northeast as we received word that the resident orcas had been located travelling inbound several miles southeast of Race Rocks. When we arrived, we found members of all three pods travelling in a resting pod as they made their way towards San Juan Island. A resting pod of resident whales is an amazing sight. Today, we had what appeared to be J and K pod together in one resting group, followed closely by L pod - two groups of whales that were probably in excess of 40 whales each!

For the afternoon trip, we headed further east as the whales had made their way into Haro Strait and were making their way close to San Juan Island. When we arrived, we noticed all three 3 pods of way still in resting formation. We spent time with both groups of orcas - the J and K resting group, as well as the L's. As the whales neared the island, they become more active and we were treated to several spyhops and some exciting porpoising behaviour by the J and K group. On our way back towards Victoria, we cruised by Chatham and Discovery Island, where we noticed some harbour seals and an eagle perched on a dead tree near the southern tip of Discovery Island. Travelling to Great Chain Island, we found another bald eagle perched on the cormorant colony.

Saturday, August 18

This morning, we headed into Juan De Fuca Strait in search of orcas and humpback whales. Early in the trip, we encountered a humpback whale and watched as it swam in circles around our vessel. After a great pass from the large cetacean, we ventured further into the strait to see what we could find. Our captain noticed a small group of energetic Dall's porpoise southeast of Race Rocks and we were excited to watch the playful animals frolic in our wake. The next stop in our tour was a journey through Beecher Bay, a favourite hunting ground of transient orcas and a beautiful place in its own right. We noticed a great blue heron perched on some kelp and watched a couple of turkey vultures soaring overhead. The last stop of the tour was Race Rocks ecological reserve where we saw 4 different species of pinnipeds: California and Steller sea lions, as well as harbour seals and even an elephant seal.

On the afternoon trip, we travelled just off Albert Head where an encounter with a humpback whale thrilled both passengers and crew. Humpback whales have been sighted consistently in July and August, and it is great to see this majestic whales making an apparent comeback after being hunted to the brink of extinction. After the humpback whale sighting, we headed into Juan De Fuca Strait, where we found both harbour and Dall's porpoise. We searched Whirl Bay for eagles and showed our passengers a large eagle nest. To finish the trip, we travelled to Race Rocks where the sea lions put on an amazing show!

Friday, August 17th

This morning, we received reports of killer whales at Trial Island, so our 10 am trip headed east to meet up with a large group of transient orcas travelling eastbound towards Discovery Island. The group of orcas was later identified as the T124's a group of transient orcas that includes T124 (the matriarch) and her calves. Although there were no mature males in the group, they were still an awe-inspiring sight as we enjoyed the beauty of this majestic predators. Their close proximity to the harbour allowed us to spend plenty of time with the whales, and also explore some other sights. We checked out Great Chain Island, where we noticed two bald eagles on the cormorant nests and several harbour seals. It is most likely the abundance of young harbour seal pups in the area, that has resulted in an increased number of transient sightings this past week. After a tour of the Chatham Island coastline, we met up with the whales in Haro Strait, where we watched the whales with the scenic backdrop pf the Discovery Island lighthouse. On the return to the harbour, we explored the coastline of Trial Island, where we saw another mature bald eagle, many more harbour seals and even some spectacular Lions Mane jellyfish! It was an excellent tour and a fine way to the start the day.

For the 1 pm trip, we travelled near Kelp Reef to meet up with the T124's. We travelled north with the whales as they made their way slowly north towards the Kelp Reef marker. We had some excellent passes with the mammal-eating orcas before we headed into Juan De Fuca Strait to see what else we could find. We stopped at Trial Island first to look at the harbour seals and a couple of eagles before we headed towards Race Rocks to see a humpback whale that had been found. We had an excellent time visiting with the spectacular animal and we were thrilled to see it fluke several times. We concluded our tour with a trip through the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve. It was a great day on the water.

Thursday, August 16

Our residents have returned!!!! After about a week feeding off the west side of Vancouver Island, we were greeted by 87 Orcas, as they traveled east up the Strait of Juan de Fuca towards Victoria. We had a great day as we viewed several small groups of Orcas as they breached (jumping clear of the water), spy hopped (brought their heads out to look around) and tail slapped. Throughout the day we were able to identify different individuals such as, Ruffles (J1), Faith (L57), Cappuccino (K21), all of which are fully mature males. We also were able to see other marine mammals like harbour and elephant seals and stellar and California sea lions as they hauled out on the rocks of Race Rocks and the Chain Islands.

See Captain John's photos below.

Our Southern Residents have returned!

Here are a few beautiful photos taken by Captain John onboard August 16th 9am covered boat tour.

This past week our tours have seen many different animals.

Here are some great photos taken by Captain John onboard our covered boat tours.

Elephant Seal

Seal Lions
Transient OrcasGray Whale

Humpback Whale


And some very cute whale watchers!

Wednesday, August 15

You couldn’t ask for more beautiful weather within the past few days on our whale watching trips. This morning we heard more transients had been spotted by Beecher Bay, a bay about 45 minutes west of Victoria. We drove along the shoreline of Vancouver Island and discovered a group of transient Orcas traveling east. The group appeared to have one large male, a few females and one calf. Based on dorsal fin markings we believe the whales may have been members of the T30 family group. But because we only view transients rarely in the area, it was difficult to confirm. Before leaving the pod we had a fantastic sighting of a Tufted Puffin! These seabirds have large bills strong enough to break your finger and are not common in the area. We then proceeded further west where we found a Humpback Whale. After observing a few tail flukes we drove back to Victoria.

For the afternoon trip we went further south, right off the shoreline of Washington State near Crescent Bay. We found the transients there in a resting state and they were now heading west. After viewing the transients we then went right up to the shoreline of Washington where we discovered a Gray Whale feeding along the bottom of the strait. We had some nice surfaces from the Gray Whale and then headed back to Victoria. On our trip home we stopped by Race Rocks and saw a number of pinnipeds (seals and sea lions) and observed a lot of birds including Heermann’s Gulls and Red-necked Phalaropes.

Tuesday, August 14

As we began our morning heading out of the Victoria Harbour, we received word that a group of our Transient Orcas were spotted west neat Sheringham Light House. We arrived on scene about 55 minutes later to be welcomed by a group of 15 whales, including 2 mature males and a new calf. We got a great look at their amazing and unique features, such as the ‘closed’ saddle patches and the many marks and scares caused from there aggressive hunting technique. After the fantastic viewing of the orcas, we headed to Race Rocks, a local marine and ecological reserve, to see Harbour and Elephant seals, Stellar and California sea lions, and many sea and shore birds.

The afternoon’s tour was spent 4 miles south of Race Rocks where we joined up with our Transient Orcas again. As they foraged for marine mammals to feed on, they broke into 2 smaller groups and spread out over a few miles. We enjoyed one group for quite a while as they porpoised in the direct of seals feeding in the tide line. Then we decided to move on to the others, but while on route, we came across a filter feeding humpback whale. We got a great look as it fed on many small schooling fish and plankton in the water column. On the way home we stopped at Race Rocks again to appreciate the many Harbour and Elephant seals and Stellar and California sea lions hauled out on the rocks.

After two successful tours under our belts, all the crew were pleased to headed out on the calm evening waters surround the Victoria area. We headed East of Victoria to an area off shore called Hein Bank. We viewed a small group of our Transient Orcas as they moved into an area where the tide line had welcomed many seals to feed. Although we did not see any ‘kills’, we did see some aggressive swimming and searching by the larger males. After a great display of their wild tendencies, we moved on to look for other marine mammals and wild life. We stopped at the Chain Islands, where we saw many harbour seals hauled out on the rocks with their new 2 month old pups.

Tuesday, August 14 - 2nd covered boat tour

Just prior to leaving the harbour on our 10 am Orca Spirit trip, we received word that transient orcas were inbound in Juan De Fuca Strait near Sheringham Point. As we arrived on scene with the whales, we realized that we were in for an extraordinary day as there was at least 14 transient orcas in the area. Our passengers and crew spent some time with a well known group of transients, the T100's. This large family group of orcas includes a spectacular bull killer whale, T102, and it was a great joy to see this killer whale family looking so well. Also in the area was a killer whale we rarely see, T63. This large adult male was born in 1978. Unfortunately, at some point in his life, his dorsal fin was injured, making him a whale that is incredibly easy to identify (see the pictures!). Seeing such a large group of transients is incredibly rare, as the mammal-hunting orcas are more commonly found in groups of 3 to 5 whales. We also were privileged to see two humpback whales, and some great fluking behaviour. A tour through Race Rocks Ecological Reserve made this remarkable trip a great experience.

Monday, August 13

Today was an absolutely beautiful day with a bright sun shining and the water extremely calm out in the Juan de Fuca Strait. We left the harbour and went west where we discovered a Humpback which appeared to be in a resting state since he stayed close to the surface during our entire observation. We had a few nice views of his fluke and finally headed in search of other wildlife. Not too far away we found another Humpback that appeared to be a little more active as he did some deeper dives, probably in search of some food. After our whale viewings, we stopped at Race Rocks where we actually saw an Elephant Seal, the largest species of carnivore, moving its massive body up the boat ramp on the main Race Rock Island; it was quite a site to see!

For our evening trip the waters remained calm and we again had some beautiful views from the two Humpback Whales. We then proceeded to check out Race Rocks and were pleasantly surprised to have two Gray Whales swim by. The two whales, perhaps a mother and calf were traveling very close together and continuously came to the surface for fresh breaths of air. After their encounter we viewed all the amazing wildlife at Race Rocks and headed home to finish off our fantastic day.

Sunday, August 12

What an exceptional way to start the day! This morning, we encountered a large group of transient orcas right outside the harbour. There were at least 5 or 6 transients, including one large male. Before we arrived on scene, the transients had apparently just made a kill and we saw one whale do an amazing spyhop. We travelled with the whales for awhile and saw the male do another great spyhop before we headed towards Race Rocks where a humpback whale had been located by our spotter. After viewing the whale, we toured Race Rocks Ecological Reserve before spending some time with both the orcas and the humpback whale on the way back to the harbour. Sea lions were abundant and playful at Race Rocks. It was another fantastic tour aboard the Orca Spirit!

This afternoon was another extraordinary tour in which our passengers were able to see both transient orcas and a humpback whale on the same tour. We started our tour by visiting with a group of transients that were east of Trial Island. We travelled with the group as they swam slowly westward in the strong current, and got many good looks at these extraordinary animals. Our next stop took us near Albert Head, where we visited with a young humpback whale. Our final stop of the tour was Race Rocks, where we watched Steller and California sea lions, a large elephant seal and many harbour seals. It was another great day!

Saturday, August 11th

This morning, we searched the waters of Juan De Fuca Strait in search of humpback whales, orcas and other cetaceans. The first stop of the tour was Race Rocks, where we enjoyed the company of Steller and California sea lions, as well as harbour and elephant seals. Race Rocks, as always was spectacular. After our tour of Race Rocks, we travelled east, where we were fortunate to find a large humpback whale. The whale was doing some spectacular fluke feeding, using her flukes to help gather her prey, before lunging through it at the surface.

The afternoon trip was similar, however, we decided to visit with the humpback whale first as she made her way east towards Race Rocks. The whale was very energetic and did something that this naturalist (Corey) had never seen before - a humpback whale spyhop! We were thrilled by this behaviour, as well as the spectacular fluke feeding. After watching the whale for awhile, we headed east towards Race Rocks Ecological Reserve, where we found another whale actually in the reserve! The whale was most likely the calf of the other whale. We concluded our trip with a fantastic trip through Race Rocks, where we enjoyed California and Steller sea lions and elephant seals. It was a wonderful afternoon.

Thursday, August 9

This morning we went south out of the harbour in search of Gray Whales. Gray Whales are bottom feeders and are often found close to the shoreline where the water is shallow so that they can stir up the sediment and feed. We went along the shoreline of Washington State just east of Port Angeles and found a Gray Whale happily feeding in the area. After some nice views of the whale we stopped by Race Rocks where a number of sea lions, both Stellar and California were hauled out on the rocks.

For the afternoon trip we went west where we discovered a Humpback feeding in the water column. We had some fantastic views of the whale’s fluke as he dove down for some deeper dives.

For our final trip of the day we found the Humpback very close to the Victoria Harbour. After some more fantastic passes by the whale we went over to Whirl Bay where we saw a Turkey Vulture flying overhead, a Bald Eagle nest and a number of Fork-tailed Storm Petrels. We finished our evening with a little taste of Bull Kelp, a seaweed that is very common in the area.

My family and I joined you on the 9:00 trip on 15th July this year and had a wonderful trip. One of the other passengers asked if I would post my pictures to your blog site as, not having a digital camera herself, she was not sure if she managed to get any good pictures herself.
Many thanks to the crew for any enjoyable and informative experience.

Tarina

Wednesday, August 8

Today was a great 2 pod day! We were the first ones on the scene this morning as we traveled along San Juan Island and discovered K and J-pod traveling north along the shoreline. We had a fantastic pass by Mike, a sprouting male from J-pod and then not too long after that, Mike’s mum Slick along with the newborn baby (J-42) swam by as well. Newborn calves are easy to spot as they are born with Jaundice and therefore have a yellowish red color to their skin. We returned to the two pods for the afternoon trip and were fortunate to see a number of breaches from the same whale, who was a little too far away to identify. We also had two fantastic spy hops from J-42, who is clearly doing very well in her family group.

Monday, August 7

Today’s tours started off with an encounter from 2 Humpback whales. We were lucky enough to see the markings of the tails flukes as the whales prepared for their deep dives. As well, Race Rocks greeted us with California and Stellar sea lions, Harbour seals and Cormorants.

Throughout the afternoon and evening tours we found 1 Transient killer whale (Pender) as well as all 3 of our Resident pods! We watched the whales’ behaviours through breaching, tail slapping and spy hopping. What a wonderful day on the water!

Sunday, August 5

For the morning trip we were in scan mode as no orcas had been spotted by our spotting network. Our Orca Spirit tour drove through the fog towards Hein Bank. Since we had limited vision through the fog we tried listening for vocalizations in the water with our hydrophone. Unfortunately no whales were spotted but we did see a lot of Harbour Seal activity by Whale Rocks and enjoyed the stunning coastline of San Juan Island.

In the afternoon we decided to head south in search of Humpbacks by Port Angeles. The fog was very thick in this area and after scanning we decided to go check out Race Rocks. The rocks appeared eerily out of the fog with the fog horn from the lighthouse being heard before anything could be seen. We did see a number of Stellar Sea Lions hauled out on the rocks as well as two large Elephant Seals in the water.

For our final trip of the day we made our way back over to Hein Bank where a Minke Whale and a Pacific White-sided Dolphin were spotted earlier on in the day. After our search we again went to see Whale Rocks where a few of our guests thought they spotted a pelican, most probably a Brown Pelican, which would be a fantastic sight! Although no whales were spotted today, there was definitely interesting wildlife in the area.

Saturday, August 4

In the morning we heard that orcas were spotted coming in west past Race Rocks. Our drive out took us to Beecher Bay where we found L-pod spread out along the Vancouver Island side of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We were fortunate enough to see a number of whales pass us and saw a number of breaches off in the distance; it was nice that L-pod had finally returned from their trip out to the ocean!

In the afternoon we met up with L-pod again who were south of the Victoria Harbour. We had a fantastic pass by Skana, one of the large males of L-pod. Finally for our evening trip we met up with not only L-pod but also J-pod and possibly K-pod off the shoreline of San Juan Island. The whales were clearly excited to see each other as they were extremely active and some mating was observed!. Before we headed in for the day, Mega from L-pod did a fantastic breach off the back of our boat.

Friday, August 3

For the morning tour today we were lucky enough to have orcas return from their trip up to Vancouver and the whales were swimming along the shoreline of San Juan Island. This was a nice trip to begin Lorna’s (our newest naturalist) second day of training. The whales were very active as they swam in all directions.

The afternoon brought us a little further north as the whales began towards Vancouver. We had some nice passes by a number of whales near Spieden Island, an American island known to have exotic animals living there.

For our final tour of the day, we did another long voyage just like our afternoon trip from the day before. We drove all the way up to Saturna Island to get some fantastic views of members of J-pod as they began heading across the Strait of Georgia, probably making their way over to the Fraser River. Tsawwassen terminal could be seen off in the distance and after an amazing viewing from the orcas we had a beautiful boat ride back along the Gulf Islands.


Thursday, August 2nd

Our morning trip today brought us along San Juan Island where we were in search mode for our southern residents that had finally returned from the Pacific Ocean. We scanned the waters along San Juan, Hein Bank and Salmon Bank but did not have much luck. We did manage to see Harbour Seals along the rocks of Whale Rocks. A number of them were in the water and were extremely active, jumping and splashing, probably doing some morning hunting.

For the afternoon trip we received word that the Orcas were up by Vancouver. Thanks to a group of adventurous passengers we decided to prolong the trip to be able to make it up to that area and we were well rewarded. Orcas were on all sides of us, with some nice passes by Mike (from and J-pod) and a group of females. It is always nice to end the day with some great views of the Orcas.

What a great start to August!
Here are some beautiful photos taken by Captain John on August 1st!

Gray Whale

Although we often refer to August as “Fog-ust,” the first day of the month we had nothing but calm seas and blue skies. We began our morning tour by heading southeast to the shoreline of Washington, USA where we left a foraging Gray Whale the night before. It did not take long to spot the heart shaped blow as it reaches almost 15ft into the air. All of our guests got a great look as we watched bubbles rise from the disturbed mud and then the whale itself surfaced over and over. If that was not enough, we moved on to a humpback that was spotted by other boats in the middle of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Even though both types of whales are known as baleen whales and were about 40ft in length their behaviors were totally different. We watched as the humpback foraged for small fish and plankton in the water before showing its tail flukes and going on a 5 or so minute dive. By this point our time was limited so we had a brief stop at Trial Island to look at Harbour Seals hauled out on the rocks, then it was back into the Victoria Harbour.

One of the beautiful things about the area is the each time we leave the harbour we never know what will happen. Instead of ‘baleen’ whales we came across ‘toothed’ whales, our southern resident orcas. After a 4 day absence (they were off the west coast in the open pacific coast.) We were pleased to get word of our 3 pods (89 individuals) returning to the waters surrounding Victoria. For both the afternoon and evening tours we watched as members of J, K & L pods spread out feeding and socializing between Race Rocks and the west side of San Juan Island. We were able to view such things as breaching (coming completely out of the water), spy hoping (head vertically out of the water), and even tail lobbing (slapping the tail flukes on the surface of the water.) The guests and naturalists (Nicole & Sheenah) were able to identify some individuals; Faith, Gaia, & Ruffles as well as many other females from each pod. We stopped at the Chain Islands on the way home to top the tour off with some Harbour Seals, black oystercatchers, Brandt cormorants and many gulls enjoying the sun and ample food living amongst the bull kelp forests.

Hi!
Thank you for the nice trip on Monday (30th July) evening: it was thanks to our Captain Brad we had such beautiful sightings of the big humpback whale!
I herewith enclose some pics, maybe you can use them on the blog?!
My name is Marcel Flick, I was on the upper deck, together with my son Wouter, and I must say it was a great trip, also thanks to Sheenah, she was willing to answer many questions: thanks!
Marcel Flick

Tuesday, July 31st

This morning, passengers and crew on our 9 am trip headed out into Juan De Fuca Strait in search of humpback and killer whales. The calm waters and sunny skies made for an excellent day on the water, as we kept our eyes peeled for any blows. Despite our massive search, we did not find any whales this morning but we were still thrilled when we encountered a nuclear submarine! The shear size of the vessel was absolutely amazing. As we continued our search, we travelled towards Race Rocks where we found some steller sea lions entertaining us with there playful antics as they swam through the water. We also noticed two very large elephant seals near the boat ramp. It was a great tour!

By the afternoon trip, we had received word that a humpback whale had indeed been found out in the strait. The large baleen thrilled us with some nice passes and we were able to get some nice fluke shots as the whale travelled. We left the whale to search for other wildlife and headed for Race Rocks. This time, we were able to find 3 elephant seals, including one seal who was blowing bubbles near the boat ramp! We also noticed several sea lions and, as with the first trip, saw several harbour seals. Race Rocks was absolutely spectacular today!

On the evening trip, we headed about 4 miles south of Hein Bank where we found two humpback whales! We had some great passes with both animals, including some excellent fluking behaviour. After several minutes with the whales, we travelled to a large bay west of Dungeness Spit, where a gray whale had been located. We spent several minutes with the whale, which appeared to be feeding in the bay. Our passengers had some great looks at this remarkable animal. With three large cetacean sightings in one trip, it was an amazing evening aboard the Orca Spirit!