Monday, May 26
A very lucky day with J’s

Today was probably one of the best experiences I’ve ever had watching the wonder that is orca. The afternoon trip left the dock with a report of J-pod way out west on southern Vancouver Island, and they were heading in a westerly direction towards the Pacific Ocean. Oh no we thought! They were leaving us after being around for over 2 weeks! As we headed west in some choppy seas we got a report that they had in fact turned around and were heading back east to where we were coming from. Woohoo! Upon arrival on scene we observed that all
25 individuals were within a couple of mile radius of each other and being quite active. The larger sprouter males J26 and J27 (Mike and Blackberry) were observed surfing the waves, as all you could see was the tip of their fin cutting through the water and water spraying off either side of the leading edge. I’d never seen this before, nor had passengers of course, so it truly was a special sight. There were numerous tail slaps, pec slaps, rollovers, and the elusive “elf shoe” or “sea snake” was also observed (I’m sure you can guess what that is…). Passengers were absolutely stunned, as was this Aussie naturalist, to be able to witness these behaviours all happening together by about 15 of the 25 members of J-pod. The other 10 members of J-pod were further into the Strait but we could see their blows and porpoising at times off in the distance. We had a great pass-by of the J16 (Slick) matriline with oldest son Mike (J26, 17 yrs), Keet (J33, 12 yrs), Alki (J36, 9 yrs) and newest member to the family, J42, who has just turned one year old. As they passed by our stern Keet (J33) rolled over slightly to take a look at us. “G’Day Keet, how’s it goin’ mate?” I thought, not expecting a reply of course. It was absolutely fantastic! Passengers were certainly excited to see this family unit cruise on by, as they really got an appreciation of the social cohesion that these large dolphins have with one another. Although seas were a bit rough it didn’t deter the passengers from getting some awesome photos and thoroughly enjoying their time with our local resident J-pod. As we were quite a ways west we had to make our way back to Victoria, but on the way back had just enough time for passengers to check out Race Rocks, where we saw a lone male Stellar Sea Lion and some juvenile Northern Elephant Seals hauled out on the centre rock. As we cruised from Race back to Victoria the skies opened up and the sun beamed down on us, to cap off what was truly an amazing afternoon out on the water. It truly is rewarding to have the passengers step off the Orca Spirit with grins from ear to ear, feeling truly thankful and lucky that they got to see these highly social cetaceans in action.

Now for the evening trip. Well, I thought to myself as we were heading out of the Harbour, it’s going to be pretty hard to top the trip we had this afternoon. Didn’t I eat my words! We took the Pacific Explorer out with a boat load of passengers that had no idea what they were about to witness. As we approached on scene, J-pod had made quite a distance in the few hours we were gone, and were almost to Race Rocks on the southern-most tip of Vancouver Island. We were the only vessel out there and so were keeping ours eyes peeled to catch a glimpse of the black dorsal fin and blows off in the distance. Next thing we knew… 2, 4, 5, 7, 9 dorsal fins surfaced off our port stern, all close together! Then another 5 or so behind them! J-pod were in tight travel mode and on a mission it appeared. J16 (Slick) and her offspring were again travelling tight close together and were joined by the big male J1 (aka Ruffles) and what appeared to be J2 (aka Granny that is over 90 years old!). It was hard to get an ID on all of the individuals as I’m still only learning and because they were all soo close together you don’t know where to look! Nor did the passengers! Then all of a sudden, tail slap, tail slap, tail slap by one of the males! I could tell it was a male as their tail flukes tend to curve downwards when sexually mature. All 25 members passed by so we re-positioned ourselves to catch another glimpse of them. It was amazing to see them all so close together as when we normally observe them they are typically 3 - 5 miles apart. As they were quite close to shoreline we had to keep our distance. Next thing we knew a few individuals had veered off to check us out and then all of a sudden… cartwheel! And again! It was one of the sprouter males as the splash was bloody huge! Cameras were going crazy, and Sheenah and I just looked at each other thinking how awesome it was to be witnessing all this. We decided to leave J’s to check out Race Rocks, and there we saw some California Sea Lions hauled out, some noisy juvenile Northern Elephant Seals and an abundance of Harbor Seals (aka rock sausages). As we left Race on our way back to Victoria J-pod were ahead of us so we decided to show our delighted passengers one last time. As we slowly approached them while the sun was setting, J27 (Blackberry) and younger brother J39 (Mako) left the pod and veered towards the Pacific Explorer. They surfaced right off our port stern, went down again then just as we were waiting for them to surface again… breach! Blackberry brought his whole 5-6 tonne body out of the water and the splash was almost enough to wet the passengers! I love chorus of “oooh” or “wow” that the passengers make when an orca breaches. It truly is a special and spectacular moment. Blackberry and Mako then tail-slapped a few more times and re-joined the rest of the pod. Check out the pics below of Blackberry and Mako surfacing off our stern, the splash of Blackberry’s breach, and members of J-pod cruising along as the sun sets.

With the sun setting as we headed into the harbor, and passengers sipping on their hot chocolates and coffees, we reflected on what was a truly magical and lucky experience this trip was. Days like today make me realise how hard it is going to be to leave this place at the end of the season.

Sunday, May 25

Morning trip - J’s at Vendovi Island

This morning’s trip, although a little longer than normal, was well worth the wait for passengers. We had got a report of J-pod way off in Rosario Strait, but where exactly we didn’t know, and so the Orca Spirit with Captain Brad at the helm and marine naturalists Tim and Megan headed out with the goal to show passengers this amazing group of orcas. We headed across the Haro Strait, up Middle Channel between southern San Juan Island and western Lopez Island, then through Upright Channel and Obstruction Pass south of Orcas Island and into Rosario Strait. From there we headed east between northern Cypress Island and south Sinclair Island until we came to a body of water south of Vendovi Island, and here my friends, is where we found J-pod! They were quite spread out, but passengers were extremely lucky that the first member of this pod that they came across was in fact the oldest male (~55 years) in the Southern Resident Community, the iconic and studly, J1 (aka Ruffles). This big male with his almost 6ft tall wavy dorsal fin surfaced several times, as if to make sure that all our passengers got great photos of him. He is after all the most photographed killer whale in the world! Passengers witnessed tail slaps, porpoising and other behaviours from other orcas, suggesting to the naturalists that they were in fact foraging, and hopefully getting a good feed of salmon.
Before we knew it it was time to leave and make the long journey back to Victoria. On the way back passengers marvelled at the scenery and coastline, as did this Aussie naturalist who hadn’t been to this part of the San Juan Islands.
What a treat! And a beautiful sunny day it was as well! Although the trip was a bit longer than normal, we made sure passengers got to see these majestic creatures in action. Smiling faces all round!

Afternoon trip – J’s south of San Juan Island

For this afternoon’s trip, Captain Brad and Aussie marine naturalist Tim headed out with a dozen keen passengers enjoying the open top deck of the Orca Spirit and lapping up the sunshine on this beautiful Sunday afternoon. We were in extreme luck as J-pod had made quite a distance closer to Victoria than this morning’s trip, and by the time we got to them they were at the southern tip of San Juan Island. As we approached slowly on scene, passengers saw the sprouter male J26 (aka Mike) travelling alone, with the rest of his family (mother J16 ‘Slick’, younger brother J33 ‘Keet’, J36 ‘Alki’, and little sister J42 that just turned 1 year old) trailing closely behind. Then all of a sudden, about 150m off our starboard… breach! The group made a few more surfacings, then… breach! And again! 1 year old female J42 breached twice in a row, which was an absolutely phenomenal sight! Passengers were in absolute awe (as was the naturalist!), and very lucky to witness 3 breaches by two different individuals all within 5 min of each other. We then re-positioned ourselves away from other boats and were able to view the leaders of the pod that were travelling in a northerly direction up the west side of San Juan Island. We saw the other sprouter male J27 (aka Blackberry) and mother J11 ‘Blossom’, daughter J31 ‘Tsuchi’ and younger sibling J39 ‘Mako’ all travelling close together. It was fantastic to see a family unit cruising together, which I think really hit home with the passengers, as it’s important to appreciate family, and family is very important when you’re a killer whale. Then off in the distance came a dorsal fin that we all know and love. Yep, the big man on campus, J1 ‘Ruffles’. He made quite a few surfacings, giving passengers a great look at that iconic dorsal fin, and creating an image in their mind that they will remember for a long time. The sun was out, dorsal fins were shining, saddle patches were glowing, and passengers were grinning from ear to ear. What an absolutely magical trip this afternoon was, with passengers ecstatic about what they’d just seen. It’s days like these that you just love to go whale watching.

Saturday, May 24

It was a beautiful afternoon with sunny skies and calm seas as the Pacific Explorer with its crew of Megan, Corey and Captain Brad headed to San Juan Island to find J-pod. We found J-pod off the southern end of San Juan foraging in small family groups. Passengers and crew alike were thrilled with a fantastic pass from Granny (J2), the 97 year-old matriarch to start our trip! We saw an amazing breach, but the highlight for many of our passengers was the antics of a young orca calf. This playful little whale treated us to a couple of cute "half-breaches" for lack of a better term as it swam in close proximity to its mother. We enjoyed the whales with the majestic Mount Baker as a back drop. With whales in the area every day for almost two weeks, and the anticipated arrival of K and L pod, the whale-watching will only get even better!


Friday, May 23

The Pacific Explorer headed out this calm afternoon with Captain John, marine naturalists Tim and Sheenah, and a keen bunch of passengers eager to see some orcas. We had gotten a report that our Resident J-pod was south of Pile Point on San Juan Island (USA), and so ventured east out of Victoria across into US waters. Approaching on scene passengers got their first glimpse of a killer whale when the sprouter male J26 (aka Mike, 17 yrs old) surfaced with that large (around 4-5ft) floppy dorsal fin. It will be a few more years before the cartilage in his dorsal fin completely matures, but it is very impressive nonetheless. The whole pod was spread at least a few miles apart, but passengers were able to witness J26 meet up with another 17 year old sprouter male, J27 (aka Blackberry). These two teenage males are often seen travelling together, which is quite a sight as both are said to be a little bit “cheeky”
or “show offs” when in each other’s company. We witnessed them surface together, alternating speeds and zig-zagging across each other’s path. Boys will be boys! After viewing these two young males swim along with their siblings and parents trailing behind (J16 Slick is the mother of J26 Mike, J33 Keet, J36 Alki, and J42 unnamed; J11 Blossom is the mother J27 Blackberry, J31 Tsuchi and J39 Mako) we made our way across to the Chain Islands where we saw plenty of Harbor seals hauled out on the rock. It is coming up to pupping season and we are seeing more and more pregnant females hauled out on these shallow island embankments. We were fortunate enough to see at least a couple of pups within the group. It is still a little bit early to be pupping, but come a couple of months time, this place will be teaming with them! After viewing these “rock sausages” we headed across to the main chain island where there were around 20 cormorants sitting on their nest, but not for long! Along came two bald eagles and\swooped down to claim their place on the cormorant’s nest. The cormorants and gulls went bezerk and the skies were filled with a sea of black cormorants and white gulls. Seems as though these bald eagles are quite intimidating! It was definitely an awesome sight, with passengers (and this marine naturalist!) getting a unique peek into the lives of marine birds. It was a fantastic way to end what was a great trip.

Note from passenger on board May 15's tour:
Hi there!
I know I didn't get the best breaching photo (we all know that little girl got it!), but because I was working both video and digital camera at once I was really pleased to get this photo, so close to the boat.
As a travel agent I'm always on the lookout for high quality, good value, fun tours to recommend to my clients. Yours is a gem! From the comfort of the boat to the knowledge of the guides, we enjoyed every moment of the three hours. My colleague and I had a great time and will pass on your brochure to any of our clients traveling to Victoria.
Thanks again!
Loretta Bourgeois
Expedia CruiseShipCenters, Calgary, AB.

Monday, May 19

Viewing wildlife is an amazing experience, simply because the creatures you are viewing are exactly like the term implies – “wild”. One of the definitions for the word ‘wild’ is extravagant; or fantastic, and that’s the kind of wildlife we were viewing this afternoon.

The Pacific Explorer headed out on this somewhat overcast, but flat calm day with a report of Transient orcas in Beecher Bay. With Captain Brad at the helm and marine naturalist Tim talking all things marine mammal (and a bit of local history), we headed west and upon arrival to the orcas we could see five individuals, at least 2 adult females with 2 calves and another what appeared to be female but may have been a juvenile male that hadn’t gone through that “sprouting” of the dorsal fin stage. Nonetheless, these were certainly active orcas! We viewed these mammal-eating killer whales for just under an hour and for the whole time the calves were extremely playful. We saw tail slaps, porpoising, rollovers, tail-stands and were even lucky enough to see a breach and a spyhop! This kind of behaviour is somewhat unusual for transients as they are more likely to do this after they have made a kill. But not today, they were just in the mood! Passengers (and naturalist) could not keep their eyes off these calves as they played around in the water, jumping over each other and up against mum. It really was like they were putting on for us their own little show. Passengers had their fingers rapidly pushing their camera buttons to get a shot of these playful young ones, and some managed to get some shots definitely worth of the pool room. We then left these lively dolphins and headed to Race Rocks were there were a few Stellar sea lions hauled out, a couple of juvenile elephant seals, and plenty of harbor seals hauled out on the rocks. With the calm water, the distinctive black and white-striped lighthouse, and the snow-capped Olympic mountains in the background, passengers were able to easily get that postcard shot that they will look back upon in years to come and say “That’s the day we went on a great marine wildlife tour with that very knowledgeable Australian marine naturalist and saw those baby killer whales playing around, having a bloody great time”. Ok, so it may not be those words exactly, but Monday May 19th will definitely be a day that passengers on this trip will remember. An extravagant marine "wild"-life tour? Most certainly!

Sunday, May 18

The Orca Spirit headed out this sunny Sunday morning in search of our resident fish-eating killer whales. The wind made for a bit of a ‘roller-coaster’ ride (as described by one of our 10 year-old passengers that thoroughly enjoyed it), as we headed east across into the Haro Strait and south along San Juan Island.
With calm rolling waves we were able to see well off into the distance, but unfortunately no orcas down this way. So we turned around and headed north and were fortunate enough to see half a dozen harbour porpoises along the way, travelling along the west side of San Juan. We then headed up around Darcy Island (home to a leper colony back in early to mid 1900’s) and south down to Chatham Island (a First Nations Reserve) where we saw a stunning bald eagle perched up on a rock. We then looped around to the Chain Islands where there was a smorgasbord of harbour seals (aka “rock sausages”) all hauled out along the rock mounds, sunning in the great weather Victoria has had this weekend.
Although no whales, it was an adventurous morning out on the water.

The afternoon trip headed out on the Orca Spirit with an almost full boat, determined to find whales. We had a report of J-pod, but they were too far north (up towards Vancouver) for us to get to them, so the decision was made by Captain Brad to still head north up around the Gulf Islands in the hope we could find passengers some cool critters. And we did just that! As we were heading across the Haro Strait towards the northern end of San Juan Island, Sheenah, one of our marine naturalists was on the top deck entertaining passengers when out of the corner of her eye she noticed two black dorsal fins surface about 150m off the stern. “Whales” she cried, as Captain Brad slowed down and turned around. I was on the bottom deck and through the window saw these magnificent creature surface again. Woohoo! We had found whales! Good on ya Sheenah! We were able to identify the big male as T20 by the notch at the top of his almost 6ft tall dorsal fin, and the fact that his dorsal fin hangs slightly to the left at the top. He was travelling with an unidentified female (believed to be T21 as they do often travel together). Being transient orcas their diving and surfacing behaviour is very unpredictable and so passengers were treated to a couple of really good passes and some great photo opportunities to get that big male dorsal fin added to their photo album. It’s always really exciting to be able to be the first to find whales, and to show passengers these spectacular creatures, but also educate them about the threats facing them and what is being done to help conserve their populations. We left these two lone transient orcas to be and headed to Mandarte Island, a bird sanctuary, where passengers saw an abundance of cormorants, gulls and pigeon guillemots on and around the island. It was then time to make the trip back to Victoria and upon arrival at the dock, we had a boat load of very satisfied passengers. I love being able to show people killer whales for the first time. It makes my day!

Below is a pic of T20, and the Orca Spirit passengers admiring his presence.

Saturday, May 17

With flat calm seas and sunny skies, the Pacific Explorer and its intrepid crew of Captain Brad and naturalists Tim and Corey headed into the Strait of Juan De Fuca with a large group of adventurous passengers. As we passed Trial Island and headed towards Discovery Island, we encountered a large group of harbour porpoise. This normally shy miniature cetaceans were a thrill for our guests and crew alike. The calm seas allowed us some excellent views of these normally shy creatures. After a brief but fantastic visit, we headed east towards San Juan Island in search or orcas.

Not to be disappointed, we found some members of J-pod just off Pile Point. Immediately upon arriving with the whales, we were treated to one of the most exciting behaviours one can have the privilege of seeing - high-speed porpoising! In the porpoising manoeuvre, whales may jump almost clear of the water and can reach maximum speeds that are estimated to over 30 mph. The grace and were of these majestic animals is truly a sight to behold. We also were able to watch whales foraging, it was great to see these amazing predators in action. Satisfied with another astounding adventure, we headed back to the harbour.

While returning from our morning with J-Pod, we received word that a group of transient orcas had been located west of Race Rocks, which meant that our afternoon guests were in for an excellent adventure. By the time we made it out on the 1 pm trip, the transients had swam a few miles east of Race Rocks. When we arrived on scene, we noticed not one but two groups of transients, as many as ten whales in total. Included in the group was T20, a large adult male and a staff favourite! It is always a thrill to see transient orcas as their unpredictable and carnivorous mammal-hunting ways always make for an amazing experience.

After leaving the orcas to see what else we could find, we made our to the picturesque and historic Race Rocks Lighthouse and ecological reserve. It was here we found a plethora of pinnipeds: Steller sea lions, California sea lions, northern elephant seals and harbour seals were all present in large numbers for our viewing pleasure. Soon the male sea lions will be heading to their rookeries, so it was nice to be entertained by their antics.

On our return to Victoria, we received word that another group of transients had been found off the water front. We concluded our fantatstic trip with some amazing views of the T100's with our beautiful city as the backdrop.

Friday, May 16

A long way for J’s

What a superb day to be out on the water. The sun was shining, seas were calm, and it’s the first day of the year I was in shorts and t-shirt. (I’ve been waiting for this day all year!). Now all I had to do was see J-pod and it would be a “pearla” of a day!

Both of our covered boats, the Orca Spirit and the Pacific Explorer headed out this afternoon with a report of J-pod quite a bit north of Victoria, up around the Gulf Islands. We were worried they had gone a bit too far for a regular trip but we decided to chance it as we wanted to show our Southern Hemisphere passengers the biggest member of the dolphin family, the wonder that is Orcinus orca. We travelled east across the Victoria/Oak Bay waterfront into the Haro Strait and across to San Juan Island. From there we headed north up to Stuart Island where we travelled through John’s Pass (a narrow body of water between Stuart Island and John’s Island), then out into Boundary Pass and then up around the south-east corner of Saturna Island, and there, my friends, is where we came across our favourite resident orcas,-J-pod. And a very active J-pod I might add! Many a tail slap, pec slap, breach, cartwheel and some very big spyhops where they were bringing themselves almost half way out of the water.
Passengers were ‘ooing’ and ‘aahing’ at this marvellous sight, and although we could only stay with these majestic creatures a short while, our passengers from Down Under certainly impressed by their active and playful behaviour. Now it’s not everyday that you get to see a 5 tonne animal throw itself up and out of the water, so to even see a breach, or a spyhop is incredibly lucky. I like to sometimes think that they’re just showing off for us. Maybe they are…

A magnificent trip on a magnificent afternoon, with a 70 nm round trip for passengers to enjoy this great BC weather. Stick with it sunshine, I think the orcas like it when you leave the clouds behind and come out on your own.

Thursday, May 15

Hi!
Thanks again for the amazing tour today. It was amazing. Once I got back to my condo and started enlarging my photos I realized that I had some fairly good ones so I thought I'd send them to you. Obviously those who got the breeching have the best photos, but I thought these were fairly good. There is one that is kind of pixilated because I zoomed in so close but I think its still possible to identify which orca it is if you have to chart to compare it with. Hope you have great luck in the future with your whale tours.
Melissa Lindsay

Thank you Melissa - Great photos! We've made notes on those we were able to identify below. Orca Spirit Crew

The above photo is of J2 "Granny" - the oldest Resident Orca! Her estimated birth year is 1911.

The above photo shows J33 "Keet", born in 1996.

Thursday, May 15

This morning we were greeted just beyond the Victoria Harbour with calm seas sprinkled with lines of light fog. As we traveled west, it wasn’t long before we came across a large group, numbers in the 20’s, or harbour porpoises. With a few circles to create some wake, the porpoises were happy to come and play all around our boat. After a great time with the porpoises we moved on and continued our search for other wildlife. Next, we found ourselves at Race Rocks, a marine reserve off the southern most tip of Vancouver Island, where the animals and atmosphere captured what the west coast really has to offer. With a 148 year old light house and the Olympic Mountains as a backdrop, the rocks came alive. We enjoyed 5000lb elephant seals high on the rocks, 2000lb stellar and California sealions in and out of the water and many seabirds; such as black oystercatchers, cormerants, pigeon gillamonts and many relaxing seagulls. For our final wildlife encounter we headed to Whirl Bay, where we watched eagles soar about in the clearing sky, stock the waters from tree tops and relax near an ocean view nest.

Moments from leaving the harbour for our afternoon tours we received word that J-pod, one of our resident pods of orcas with 25 members, were foraging off the west side of San Juan Island. Immediately on scene, we had the pleasure of getting a great close look at Slick (J16, mother of 4) and her newest calf J42 (unnamed 1 year female) as they traveled off shore searching for salmon. Throughout the hour spent with the whales we had spyhoping, tail slapping and many great passes. One, I know myself and our guests will never forget, as when Blackberry (J27, a 17yr old sprouting male) came by slowly enough for everyone on board to appreciate the size and gentleness of the amazing animals all around us.

For our evening tour we were off to enjoy J-pod on the west shore of San Juan Island. In the few hours we were back in Victoria’s Harbour, Granny (J2, 97yr matriarch of J-pod) had the entire pod change from their foraging behavior to a playful social behavior. My personal favorite time to be on the water was amplified by breeching whales close by and in the distance. Our youngest passenger on board, a young girl from the states was fortunate enough to capture Polaris (J28) as she jumped, bringing her entire 7 ton body out of the water, in an amazing photo. The tour continued in a similar manner, at times I had trouble directing the passengers on which direction to look as not to miss any action. All 51 passengers, mostly on a shore excursion at the end of their Alaskan cruise, agreed it was a perfect evening they will never forget. As the sun began to lower, Blackberry (J27, a 17yr old male) gave a great goodbye with a close pass by our boat, that demonstrated the energy and passion that drives our industry to love each moment we get with orcas in their natural habitat. On the way back we slowed by Trial Island to see the 100 yr light house, harbour seals hauled out on the rocks, and a lone bald eagle perched high on a post. Once back at the dock, the crew were thanked perfusely for an amazing experience and a new found love for nature.

Wednesday, May 14

What can I say.....I love my job! We spent our morning dividing our attention between transient orcas, bald eagles and harbour seals. At times the passengers and crew didn't know which way to look.

We started out of the harbour with a positive attitude despite the grey cloud filled skies overhead. And right we were, just 35 minutes east of Oak Bay we came across a small group of orcas. I, Sheenah (marine naturalist), was able to identify them as a large male T87, traveling with females T88 & T90 and T90's calf. After about 20 minutes of traveling north bound along a tide line, the transient changed direction. We noticed quickly that this was to join up with another group of transient orcas, the T124's (another 4 individuals, ID by another vessel in the area).

Now the group of 8 individuals were heading strait for Victoria's water front. We were able to enjoy the whales, all the while, checking the shore line of Chatham and Chain Island. We were fortunate enough to see 4 bald eagles, one of which was still immature without the distinctive white head and 3 different areas where harbour seals were hauled out on the rocks. And don't forget, the orcas were with us the entire time. We said good-bye to the orcas as we passed the 100 year old Trail Island light house and finished with a little tour of Victoria's outer harbour.

Tuesday, May 13

The rainy skies could not stop the excited guest and crew aboard the Orca Spirit today. Before we even left Victoria’s harbour, our Captain Brad, had word the J-Pod (consisting of 24 members) were heading south down the Rosario Strait. The Orca Spirit made a direct path east, and after an hour, met up with a spread out foraging group.

While on scene, for both the 1pm and 5 pm tours, we were able to get great looks at such whales as two young teenagers, Mike (J26, 17 yrs) and Blackberry (J27, 17yrs), who were traveling with Mike’s family. Mike’s mom Slick (J16, 38 yrs) was there, along with his brother Keet (J33, 12 yrs), and two sisters (Alki –J36 9 years, and J42, J-Pod’s newest, and yet to be named member. She is one year old) We also got a great look at Riptide (J30, a sprouting male) as he tail lobbed passed us. To top off the sighting, we dropped the hydrophone and enjoyed the calls and echolocation of a tight family unit.

On our way back, we also saw many Dall’s porpoise, cormorants, pigeon Guillemots, gulls and a lone bald eagle at the northern tip of Trial Island.

Here are some AMAZING photos taken by onboard passenger Tony Bamberger of our recent Pacific White-Sided Dolphin sightings!

Monday, May 12

Well what a bloody amazing trip today was. Sorry readers but I have to say bloody as that really is the only way that this Aussie can describe how great a trip it was this afternoon.
We headed out of the harbor to calm, almost glass-like Salish Sea waters with a report of creatures that aren’t usually seen in these waters. Upon approaching the south-western side of San Juan Island and viewing some rather hook-like, bicoloured grey/white dorsal fins, we were able to confirm these creatures as Pacific White-sided Dolphins. Although these creatures are found throughout the North Pacific it is somewhat rare to get these creatures so far south of the island as they are typically found in the northern waters around Vancouver Island. Perhaps they were on vacation? I’d never seen these creatures before in the wild and Captain Brad had never seen them in these waters, and he’s been working on whale watching boats for 4 years! What an absolute treat! We observed 4 individuals travelling together, and being the gregarious, playful bow riding dolphins that they are, passengers were extremely lucky to witness these animals bow-ride on a couple of other boats, giving us some great photo opportunities. The “lags”, as they are commonly called around this region (shortened from their Genus name Lagenorhynchus), went from boat to boat riding the bow wave and then the wake created from the vessel motors. Then, it was Orca Spirit’s turn! The lags came right up and swum around the bow of our boat, and because the water was so calm and clear we could easily see their white underside with prominent light grey patch on their foreside and a narrow light grey ‘suspender’-like stripe across the top half of the body below the dorsal fin. They then began to ride the wake of our boat and passengers were absolutely delighted to see these two metre long graceful delphinids swim just under the swells created by our boat and porpoise out occasionally, giving us some great Kodak moments. Check out the photos below. You will notice the distinctive grey/white hooked dorsal fin in the first photo, and the other two are of these lags riding in the wake of the Orca Spirit.

After observing these white-sided dolphins play in our wake we thought it best to let another vessel experience the beauty and grace of these animals, so we slowed down and the lags veered off into calmer waters. As the waters were so calm we went and checked out an area known as Hein Bank, which is a shallower body of water between Dungeness Bay, Washington State USA and southern San Juan Island, as there are often baleen whales feeding in this region, but unfortunately not today. So we headed back to Victoria, seeing plenty of harbor porpoises, and then stopping off at the Chain Islands and seeing plenty of pregnant harbor seals hauled out on the rocks, and also a bald eagle perched up on a cormorant’s nest. It truly was a fantastic afternoon to be out on the water, with passengers and crew alike being extremely lucky to be able to view Pacific White-sided Dolphins frolic in the wake of boats. Who knows if we will ever see them this far south again anytime soon. Let’s sure hope so! Days like today though cannot help but make you feel so lucky to be able to view such a diversity of marine mammals in their natural habitat, and all within a short distance from the harbor!

Sunday May 11

“Sunday, adventure seas Sunday”

With a strong south easterly wind blowing off the Victoria waterfront, and two trips out today for Orca Spirit, passengers got a little extra “adventure” on their Marine Wildlife Tour.

9am trip
After getting through some bumpy seas as we headed east, water was a lot calmer in the north of Haro Strait. We headed across Spieden Channel to Spieden Island where we observed two bald eagles soaring close to the shoreline. They then landed on a nearby branch to enable passengers to get some great photos.
Spieden Island is a little bit different to other islands in that it is privately owned by the founder and major shareholder of Oakley, Inc, and was once used for big game hunting. There are still exotic species on the island such as Mouflon sheep, which passengers were fortunate enough to see grazing on the grass. After Spieden we cruised around scanning the water for anything marine mammal-like while appreciating the beautiful coastline this part of the world has to offer. We observed some Harbor Seals hauled out on a rock at Chatham Island then made the bumpy ride home. Passengers definitely enjoyed the bumps and water spraying over the top deck, and it certainly made for an adventurous morning trip.

1pm trip
With winds not having died down from this morning’s trip we headed east again, and then headed north along the Vancouver Island coastline, stopping off for passengers to see an active bald eagle’s nest on Sidney Island; plenty of gulls, cormorants, Canadian geese, and pigeon guillemots on Mandarte Island (which is in fact a bird sanctuary); and a great photo opportunity of a bald eagle sitting upon a directional marker. After viewing such a diversity of bird life we headed further north to Stuart Island, just south of Turn Point (named so as it is a major turning point cargo ships must make on their voyage to/from Vancouver), and low and behold, we came across half a dozen Dall’s porpoises that appeared to be foraging. Passengers were certainly excited to see these little creatures, which only get to just over 2m in length, but weigh around 200kg and are in fact one of the fastest swimming cetaceans, clocked at around
55 kph! After spending a bit of time with these robust porpoises (often mistaken as baby killer whales) it was time to make our way back to Victoria and again, passengers sure got a bit of a thrill ride on the way home. The kids on board were certainly enjoying it! After safely making it back to the harbor we farewelled our happy passengers, who were extremely lucky enough to witness Dall’s foraging around in the water column. We’ll hopefully see you “baby killer whales” again soon.

Saturday, May 10

This afternoon, the Orca Spirit headed out into Juan De Fuca Strait in search of orcas and other wildlife. We headed east out of the harbour towards Trial Island and the Chain Islets. Our first stop of the trip was Great Chain Island, home to a nesting colony of double-crested cormorants. When we arrived at the island, we found the cormorants not in their nest, but on the water, waiting for a bald eagle that had perched on the nesting mounds to leave. Nearby, we cruised through the Chain Islets, and observed several harbour seals hauled out on the extremely low tide.

Travelling southwest of the Chain Islets, we headed southwest out into the strait when we encountered a huge group of harbour porpoise, easily numbering well over one hundred. These normally shy cetaceans were foraging in the waters around our boat with our engines shut off to minimize our impact. We listened to the quiet puffing of these miniature whales in the calm waters. It was a fantastic experience.

We left the porpoises and headed in a big south-western arc past Race Rocks. Our trip took us to Beecher Bay and into Whirl Bay where we encountered another majestic mature bald eagle perched in a tree. Our last stop of the trip was Race Rocks, where in addition to the historic lighthouse, we observed elephant seals, harbour seals and were thrilled with a fantastic northern (Steller) sea lion encounter. Shortly before leaving the ecological reserve, we noticed 3 sea lions swimming near the edge of the kelp forest. The sea lions were watching us as much as we were watching them. It was a lovely way to conclude another excellent trip.