Saturday, June 21

This morning, we had another amazing tour aboard the Orca Spirit. With flat calm seas, we headed east towards the San Juan Islands in the hope of finding any or all of our three resident orca pods. Near Iceberg Point, we were in luck as we found a small group of orcas foraging for salmon. We were able to identify the whales as part of L-pod, and it was only a little while later that we heard the news that it was a superpod morning as J-pod and K-pod were only a short distance away heading towards us. Our passengers and crew were treated to a wonderful wildlife experience, as we witnessed some thrilling behaviours, including porpoising, breaching and spyhopping. The vocalizations through our underwater hydrophone were also amazing. All in all, it was another fantastic morning.

In the afternoon trip, we headed towards Eagle Point on San Juan Island where we encountered some K and L pod whales foraging and travelling slowly southward. Guests and crew alike were treated to some wonderful passes from many different whales, including aa thrilling encounter with Raggedy (K40). As always, we had a fantastic time, educating our passengers about the wonder that is the killer whale. To cap off this excellent afternoon, we stopped at Trial Island where we showed our guests several harbour seals.


Friday, June 20th

Well what a bloody unbelievable day today was. Days like these are few and far between and we were truly fortunate to be able to see the things we did.

This fantastic day started with clear skies, flat calm waters, and snow capped mountains as a backdrop as we headed out of Victoria Harbour and east in the search for all things cetacean. On our way east we had gotten a report of orcas on the west side of San Juan Island and thought we would go and investigate. Sure enough upon arrival a few miles south of Kellet Bluff we spotted a huge male dorsal fin. It was J1 (aka Ruffles), the big 55 year old male and believed to be the oldest male in the Southern Resident Community. We watched him surface a few times, ever so slowly (he is old for an orca so we gotta give him some credit!) and then about 200m in front of him we noticed another male surface. This was a sprouter male, and identified as J27 (aka Blackberry) who is a 17 year old that is almost fully grown (still a couple of years to go). Further north we noticed various groups together and so decided to investigate. As Captain Rick re-positioned us so we could get a good look at these family units I dropped the hydrophone in the hope of picking up some vocalisations. And vocalisations we heard! We were extremely lucky enough to be in a position where various matrilines of J-pod were converging and vocalising and echolocating like crazy. It was phenomenal! The sounds these creatures make truly are breathtaking and we have only scratched the surface as to the complexity of these calls. We know they are a form of communication, but what these calls mean exactly remains a mystery to us. It is one of the true fascinations I have with these cetaceans. While listening to these calls and clicks, and passengers getting some fantastic pictures and witnessing tails slaps, pec slaps and calves porpoising, it certainly made for an unbelievable trip and every single passenger thoroughly enjoyed themselves. What a great start to the day. I can’t wait for the afternoon trip!

Leaving for the afternoon trip I knew J-pod (and some of L’s) were heading in a northerly direction but exactly where they had got to we did not know. Upon leaving the harbour with Captain Rick and some keen passengers we learnt that they were only just north of Kellet Bluff. How could this be? It had been almost 3 hours since we left them this morning? When we arrived on scene the answer was obvious. They were resting. Now when a pod of orca rests they all bunch tightly together and slow their movements right down while shutting off one hemisphere of their brain at a time, as they must be partly conscious in order to take a breath. These orcas rest about 13% of their time over an entire day so to see over 25 individuals all lined up side by side, all surfacing in almost perfect sync is truly spectacular, and extremely lucky! Dorsal fins of all shapes and sizes, all breaking through the surface of the water followed by a blow and spray of water is something to be marveled at. Such graceful creatures they are and truly a wonder to behold, especially when resting. As passengers were watching these animals we noticed they began to spread further apart, and do the odd tail slap. They were waking up! Awesome! We positioned ourselves ahead of the animals and got caught off guard when a group split from the pod and surfaced right off our stern! Unbelievable! Passengers were ecstatic as we watched a few individuals surface near our vessel! Sometimes this happens, as they are wild animals and are unpredictable under the water, and so sometimes you do get lucky. Then as they headed away from us a calf breached! And then again! Absolutely spectacular! After all this excitement and telling all the passengers about these majestic creatures it was time to head back to Vic. On the way back I noticed that you could not wipe the smiles of the passenger’s faces, which is truly what I love about my job. I love seeing the orca, but to see the happiness and excitement they bring to people’s faces is truly rewarding. An extremely lucky day to be out on the water, and a great Father’s Day present for one of our guests! See some photos below of our excited passengers on the trip home, and also one of Captain Rick and myself, Aussie naturalist Tim.