Friday, July 4th

We began our search for whales on this Friday morning by heading East out of Victoria harbour toward Washington's San Juan Island where K and J pods of resident killer whales were last seen Thursday. Once near the island we went North along the island's coast and admired a beautiful morning as well as a mature bald eagle, which was perched near the lush kelp forest in which these raptors hunt. As we continued the search, we passed near Speiden Island and watched some of the introduced deer and mountain goats graze on her slopes. Our continued journey brought us to a colony of 30-40 harbour seals hauled up on a rock, who seemed to barely notice our presence this morning. Heading back to the harbour we passed by an old Leper colony on Stuart Island, and got another look of the diverse array of sea-birds and harbour seals on the chain islands.

This afternoon, we decided to head West out of the harbour and search for humpbacks in the straight of Juan De Fuca along the incredible south coast of Vancouver island. After it seemed the humpbacks eluded us, we took a tour through Race Rocks (racerocks.com), the iconic 150 year old light house off the island's southern coast, an ecological sanctuary home to one of the most diverse kelp forest and benthic ecosystems anywhere in BC.

While admiring the lighthouse and the numerous species of sea birds resting on the island, we got a close-up view of some harbour seals, and two Steller Sea Lion bulls. This was a surprise at this time of year as most have left for Alaska to mate, but a pleasant surprise all the same.

This evening is to be one that I, as well as all those on board the Orca Spirit will remember for a long time. We left Victoria harbour and headed straight south in the glassy-calm straight of Juan de Fuca toward Washington's Olympic Mountains. There, about five miles south of Race Rocks, we saw a large humpback in the middle of the straight- rounding up prey with his giant tail- a behaviour known as fluke feeding. Laying vertical in the water column, facing the ocean floor with his great fluke extending metres out of the water, he thrashed the tail back and fourth to concentrate prey on the surface. After this he rose out of the water, mouth agape and skimmed the surface on his side, exposing his big, beautiful, 15 foot pectoral fin completely in the air. It was a truly breathtaking experience as we sat on the flat water watching this whale feed with the snow-capped Olympic Mountains in the background and the sun just about to set over Vancouver Island. With only one other boat on the water, all that was to be heard was the roaring splash made as this great whale thrashed through the surface, and the blasts of air and water that shot out as he exhaled. Hearing this let us all realize how powerful these animals actually are, and helped us all gain an appreciation for this lonely traveller, as he filled up after swimming all the way from his wintering grounds in Hawaii in one of the longest migrations known in nature, all on an empty stomach. Thanks to all who shared this moment with us.


Wednesday, July 3rd

Here are some great photos taken by onboard Biologist Corey from today's tours.


Tuesday, July 2^nd

This morning, our vessel, the Orca Spirit headed east to the south end of Lopez Island. Near Davidson Rock, we encountered a large group of resident (fish-eating) orcas swimming east towards San Juan Island. As always, it was a pleasure to show our guests these wonderful animals exhibiting their natural behaviour. We watched several members of J-pod, and had some great looks at the "big guy", Ruffles (J1). We were privileged to see one of my favourite behaviours, porpoising, in which the whales swim at very high speed while coming right out of the water. While the whales were swimming by, we watched some harbour seals hauled out, showing little to no interest in the massive predators that were travelling only a short distance. This would not have been the same situation if they were transient orcas! As we started to make our way back to Victoria, Captain Brad found a minke whale. We were in for an exciting encounter as he was lunge feeding. We could see the distance white bands on the pectoral fins as it lunged at the surface. It was another great experience on the Salish Sea.

Guests aboard the afternoon tour were able to spend time with J-pod on the southern end of San Juan Island foraging. We had some great passes from a number of whales, and were pleased to be visited by J30 (Riptide). This "sprouter" male is really starting to grow! Both passengers and crew were satisfied with another great wildlife experience.