Monday, July 14

On this mornings tour, we travelled to San Juan Island where we spent some time near False Bay viewing members of K-pod. We had another thrilling tour as we were able to spend some time watching the newest addition to the southern resident community, K42 and her mom Lea (K14). We had an excellent pass from Lea's son Scoter (K26). It is amazing to see how much this sprouter has grown in the last couple of years. We watched a group of orca foraging inshore and saw some spectacular hunting behaviour. We were able to cap this morning's tour by visiting some L-pod whales that were travelling inbound off of Discovery Island. Guests were able to witness breaching, tailslaps and even a cartwheel, a wonderful finale to an excellent adventure on the Salish Sea.

This afternoon, we headed east to San Juan Island where we found a group of J-pod orcas headed northward with a strong flood tide. It was another enjoyable afternoon spent in the company of whales. We visited with a large group of whales that including one of my favourites, J1 (Ruffles). The crew and staff witnessed several chase events as the whales were undoubtedly pursuing salmon, their favourite food. With the brilliant sunny weather of late, and lots of whales, the whale watching has been superb and this trip was no different. Some high speed porpoising, a spectacular spyhop and even a breach thrown in were highlights of this wonderful trip.

The evening trip turned out to be one of my favourite tours of the season. We travelled north to Turn Point on Stuart Island, and the waters of Boundary Pass where members of all 3 resident pods were working their way north towards the mouth of the Fraser River. We started our tour by visiting with a large group of 7 orcas that were travelling together and surfacing almost in unison. The group included Faith. Despite his name, he is one of the largest and most spectacular bull killer whales on the coast. As were watching another unidentified male, he did an incredibly awesome cartwheel just off the port side! It was a massive display of power on the part of this whale, one that left both passengers and this naturalist (Corey) in awe. Even after 4 years, they continue to amaze. We continued watching our first group of orcas, travelling with them as they made their way across Boundary Pass towards Swanson Channel with Mount Baker as a backdrop.