Wednesday, July 30

Today’s tours were spent on the west side of the American Island called San Juan. We watched from the open top and back decks as whales from J and K pod foraged for salmon all around us. On the morning’s tour we had some great looks at J pods large male, Ruffles (J1, 57 yrs old) and Slick (J16) and her 4 offspring, Mike (J26, 17 yrs), Keet (J30, 12 yrs), Alki (J36, 9 yrs) and the newest member of J pod J42 (14 month old female). Then on our afternoon tour we had a close look at individuals from K pod. We enjoyed a close pass from Cappuccino (K21, 22 yrs) and his older sister Raggedy (K40). Then a great sight for all aboard, K14 passed with her family group that includes our youngest member of the southern resident community, K42 (only 8 weeks old). We also took the time to stop at Chain Island where we watched harbour seals as they looked for food in the large bull kelp beds.

Tuesday, July 29

Today’s covered boats headed out into the cool waters surrounding southern Vancouver Island. We traveled as far west as Sheringham Light House and as far east as Whale Rocks and were unable to find our aquatic friends, the whales. But this did not discourage the crew and passengers aboard. We were able to enjoy other marine mammals and birds as we travelled. We stopped for a small group of Dall's porpoises as they played in our wake. We also stopped at places like Discovery Island and the Chain Islands to see the many Harbour seals hauled out on the rocks and others swimming amongst the bull kelp beds. We even got a good look at a large fully mature Bald Eagle. It nice to know we live in such a fabulous area that we can see so much in only 3 hours.

Here are some beautiful photos taken this past weekend by onboard Biologist Corey.

Sunday, July 27th
J1 Ruffles
Saturday, July 26th

Monday, July 28th

Residents and the almighty T14

‘Twas a three trip day for this Aussie naturalist, along with newcomer naturalist Kaylin and Captains John and Rick. Little did we know that today we would see both the fish-eating orca and the mammal-eating orca within these waters of the Salish Sea.

The morning trip headed out with a report of our resident pods heading west out the Strait of Juan De Fuca, so with no time to waste we left the dock and arrived on scene just south of Otter Pt. The resident orcas were very spread out but all heading in a westerly direction so it appears as though they may be gone for a couple of days, which is the norm for these animals this time of year. We managed to spot a couple of individuals that appeared to be playing together. One was on it’s back with pectoral fins up in the air and slapping it’s tail. We shut our engines off to watch these animals and I dropped the hydrophone in the water to pick up any vocalizations that they were making, and they sure were making some! Plenty of calls and clicks as we watched the female K40 (aka Raggedy, 45 yrs old) and her younger brother K21 (aka Cappuccino, 22 yrs old) play around and then stop in the water and just watch us, before heading on their course west with the rest of the pod. Passengers were utterly amazed and extremely lucky to actually be watched themselves by the orca. We also got to witness a couple of breaches off in the distances as well as tail slaps and some very clear vocalizations through the hydrophone. What a fantastic trip watching these fish-eating orcas.

This afternoon we headed out with a report of a mammal-eating orca just east of Victoria at Chatham Island, so with a full Pacific Explorer and a bunch of keen passengers we took to the glass-like waters off the coast of Victoria and arriving on scene we saw that it was the infamous lone transient orca ‘Pender’ (T14, 44yrs old). Welcome back mate! It has been exactly one month since we have seen Pender in these waters. We watched as this huge male (most likely the biggest male orca we have in these waters) played in amongst the bull kelp on the north-eastern side of Chatham Island. He was draping the kelp fronds over his huge 6ft dorsal fin and slapping his tail amongst the kelp. What a truly amazing sight to see! We watched Pender as he cruised the shoreline around the island and began to head north. So we left this ‘Ultimate Bachelor’ to be and went to check out the Chain Islands where we were lucky enough to see a harbour seal mother that appeared to be teaching it’s pup to forage. I hope it’s a quick learner because in 4-6 weeks it’s on its own! On Main Chain island we saw an abundance of marine birds such as gulls and their chicks, cormorants, and pigeon guillemots. It really is the productive time of year in these waters! What a diversity filled trip, all just half an hour from Victoria!

The evening trip headed out in the search for Pender again, and after heading east then north into Sidney Channel and searching we finally spotted this iconic male (well he’s not hard to miss!). Pender was making quite a few deep dives (around 5-7min) but when he did surface he gave passengers plenty of great photo opportunities, and you could clearly see the distinct markings on the leading edge of his dorsal where he was tagged with a radio transmitter back in 1976. Waters were flat calm as this harbour seal eating orca slowly made his way north towards Sidney. Sadly it was soon time for us to leave, so we headed back to Victoria and checked out some of Pender’s favourite item on the menu, the harbour seal (aka ‘rock sausages’ and ‘orcaderves’). Another great trip out with Orca Spirit and passengers extremely happy that they had been lucky enough to observe ‘The Big Man on Campus’ T14. See you in a month or so Pender! Always a pleasure mate. I’ll have some coldies on ice ready for when you return ;-)

Here are photos taken by Captain John on our tours this past weekend.

Sunday, July 27^th

We had to journey a long way to get to the whales this morning but it was definitely worth the journey. We travelled to the beautiful waters of Boundary Pass where we encountered J-pod along with a few L-pod whales travelling east as they made their way towards San Juan Island. We had some great passes from several different animals, and we observed some awesome behaviours... even a few breaches! However, the highlight for this naturalist was some truly amazing foraging behaviour from Ruffles. It was a breathtaking encounter as this magnificent cetacean foraged near our vessel. He did not seem the least bit disturbed by our presence. What an amazing encounter! It was one that the passengers and crew will not soon forget!

Our 1 pm trip travelled near Andrew's Bay on San Juan Island, where we encountered mostly J-pod whales travelling south. Perhaps the highlight of the trip was our initial passes with J1 "Ruffles", one of the true icons of the west coast. It is always a treat to show our guests this remarkable animal, and he did not disappoint. What a wonderful way to spend the afternoon.

When we left the dock at 5 pm this evening, I am sure that neither or passengers nor the crew of naturalist Corey (me) and our Captain Rick had no idea of the adventure that was in store for us. It would prove to be one of my most memorable trips for a variety of reasons and it was one of my best whale experiences in my 4 years as a whale watcher. Although the water was somewhat rough, the whale watching was superb. The whales were incredibly active and we were treated to a remarkable display of orca behaviours: cartwheels, breaches, porpoising, tailslaps and spyhops! It was some of the best whale watching I have had in admittedly not the best of conditions. This trip was made even more memorable due to our guests, who treated this evening and the rough seas as an adventure. They reminded me what a treat it is to be able to share my passion for orcas and other Salish sea wildlife. It was definitely a trip to remember.

Saturday, July 26^th

On the morning tour, we headed north of Bird Rocks in Rosario Strait where we encountered members of both J and K-pod travelling south in calm seas. It was another great encounter, highlighted by a wonderful visit with Slick (J16). She seemed almost as curious about us as we were about her. Just as we were about to leave the scene, we noticed an active group of whales off in the distance and were treated to a couple of spectacular breaches! What a magnificent way to end another great whale experience.

By the time of our afternoon trip, J-pod had turned around and headed north, so we visited with K-pod near the south end of San Juan Island. On this trip, we first encountered the whales offshore of Cattle Point Lighthouse on the southern tip of San Juan Island. We witnessed some spectacular breaches and watched as some of the K-pod whales poropoised north. A highlight of the trip was a wonderful visit with K20 (Spock) and her offspring K38 (Comet). We capped off our whale encounter by visiting with the mature male in K-pod K21 (Cappuccino). It was a lovely encounter.

The evening trip, always a staff favourite, did not disappoint. We encountered a group of K-pod whales just south of False Bay on San Juan Island. A young sprouter male, K25 (Lobo) demonstrated some amazing foraging behaviours. It was a spectacular experience as we watched some amazing surface hunting behaviour. Lobo was joined in the foraging by another young whale who dazzled us with some amazing aerial chase behaviours. It was another wonderful evening on the Salish Sea.

Wednesday, July 23

We headed east out of the Victoria Harbour to come across a resting J-pod just south of Discovery Island. Resting is the behaviour in which our whales get 'sleep'. These whales are unable to sleep in the way humans do and instead, travel in a tight formation in a semi-conscious state. The beauty of such behaviour is that all 25 members surface in unison, allowing great photos. Now generally other social activities are not scene but we were fortunate enough to witness the whales "waking', which is commonly partnered with very social behaviour. Once one the west side of San Juan Island and throughout the day we saw many breeches, tail slaps, spyhops and more. We even watched as the whales quickly changed direction after salmon, their many food source. All to be topped off with calm sea conditions and beautiful sunny skies.

Tuesday, July 22

Today's tours were spend on the west side of the American Island of San Juan. We found ourselves travelling from Cattle Point on the south to Kellett Bluff on the north with one of our resident pods of Orcas, J-pod. We enjoyed watching members ranging from Granny (J2, 97 yr old matriarch) and Ruffles (J1, 57 yr old mature male) to J42 (unnamed, 1 1/2 yr old female calf). Most of our time was spent watching the whales forage for salmon close to the shoreline. We were fortunate enough to see other more social behaviours such as breeching and tail slapping. On our evening tour we even had Polaris (J28, female) travel around our boat vocalizing, which was listen to by passengers through our hydrophone. Another fabulous day on the water!

Monday July 21st

West Side J’s

I love it when we are the first boat on scene in the morning. 9am trips are bloody great! The Orca Spirit headed across to the west side of San Juan Island in the search for the resident orcas, and sure enough, just south of Lime Kiln Lighthouse we could see some blows and black dorsal fins. It was J pod, and they were foraging. We can tell when orcas are foraging based on their erratic movements and the fact that they are travelling in no specific direction. We saw some fast swimming and splashes by a sprouter male (J26 aka Blackberry, 17yrs) and it looked like he had gotten himself a salmon. We saw the big guy J1 (aka Ruffles, ~55 years old) swim past and he too appeared to be foraging. It’s good to know that there are still some salmon around for these endangered animals. Passengers were thrilled to be able to see these fish-eating killer whales actually eating fish. A great trip, who knows what the afternoon will bring.

The Pacific Explorer with a full boat and crew headed east this afternoon back to San Juan Island to see the wonder that is J pod. As we arrived on scene just north of Eagle Point we noticed a couple of large males swimming around, that again appeared to be foraging. As we got about 150m from these almost 6ft tall dorsal fins we noticed one of the males was in fact L57 (aka Faith, 31yrs). L57 has often been travelling with J-pod this year, as he has no immediate family members left in L pod. Either that or he’s here to impress the J females! We shut down our engines to watch these guys forage and then all of a sudden Faith was quite close to us, swimming around erratically. He was clearly hunting a salmon. He then stopped, and just watched us from under the surface of the water. Definitely some ‘people watching’ going on by this spectacular male orca. Passengers were over the moon that they too were being watched, and it made for a fantastic afternoon trip. The beauty of whale watching is that we are watching wild animals, and no trip is ever the same, and who knows what these charismatic megafauna are going to do next. Stay tuned folks for more blogs from Orca Spirit!

Below are some ‘whale watching’ photos from the trip today, and check out one of our zodiac drivers Cheri giving their passengers a fun ride!

Here are some great photos taken on July 19th by passenger Terre Wrenn - thank you!

Sunday, July 20

This evening we travelled to the scenic waters of north Haro Strait, where we watched the two subpods of J-pod travel north along the rugged sandstone coastline of Stuart Island. Our 5 pm trip was once again magnificent, as is often the case. We encountered the orcas in resting mode, as the at least 9 whales were surfacing and diving almost in unison, a wondrous sight that never gets old for this experienced naturalist. As the whales approached Turn Point Lighthouse they began to wake up with some tail slaps and a couple of spyhops! We had to leave the whales as they were passing the lighthouse, after another phenomenal encounter with the astounding icons of the Salish Sea.


Saturday, July 19