Sunday, June 8th

The sun managed to shine on us for the whole trip this Sunday afternoon, and we were graced with the presence of whales! The Orca Spirit with Captain Brad and marine naturalist Tim got a report that our resident orca pod, the one and only J-pod, with 25 dolphins strong, were heading in a south-westerly direction around 4 miles west of Hein Bank. We arrived on scene and they were extremely spread out, so we positioned ourselves at the front of the group then all of a sudden, a breach off in the distance! We dropped the hydrophone and passengers were able to hear some echolocation clicks coming from the individuals travelling towards us. We then managed to find a group of seven individuals travelling very close together, three of which I was able to identify as J17 (aka Princess Angeline, 31 yrs) as she has a distinctive whisp in her saddle patch. She was travelling with her two daughters J28 and J35 (aka Polaris, 15 yrs, and Tahlequah, 10 yrs). J28 has a distinctive nick in her dorsal which makes it easier for her to be identified. The other orcas with them appeared to be females, with at least one calf travelling with them. It looked like a “ladies afternoon on the water”. We managed to get some great pass-bys from this group of orcas and passengers were able to get some excellent photos. This group, along with the other 18 individuals of the pod that were very spread out, continued to head in a westerly direction. I wonder if J’s will be leaving us for a couple of days. They typically do leave these waters for a few days at a time during the summer months, but it seems as though this season things may be different so we’ll just have to wait and see! We left these amazing animals and headed north to the Chain Islands where we saw at least 50 Harbour Seals hauled out on the rocks. We’re seeing more and more of these animals this time of year as females are about to give birth. Soon we’ll be seeing lots of little pups on the rocks as well! It really is amazing to be able to see such a diversity and a large number of species all within a short distance from the capital of British Columbia. This Aussie sure is enjoying his time here.