Saturday, July 19
It was yet another fantastic day on the water as the streak of beautiful weather continues. On all three tours today, we had some wonderful visits with all a group of 9 J-pod whales, members of the J14 (Samish) and J16 (Slick) matrilines, along with J8 (Speiden). It was unusual, as it is very rare for J-pod to separate and go there separate ways!
On the 9 am tour, we travelled east towards San Juan Island, travelling south of Trial Island. Near the Oak Bay Flats, our captain spotted a minke whale. We enjoyed watching this elusive animal and had some excellent views of this small baleen whale. Following this encounter, we travelled to Great Chain Island where a small group of whales had been spotted. It did not take long to identify these whales as Sean and I were able to recognize the saddle patch of a young J-pod male named Mike (J26). Early in our encounter, we were privileged to witness a spectacular breach and some wonderful hunting behaviour. The Orca Spirit journey with the whales into Haro Strait before we went looking for other wildlife. We watched a young harbour seal pup struggle to climb on a rock onto a rock near Chatham Island. On a nearby rock, we spotted two majestic bald eagles. All in all it was a spectacular trip!
On the afternoon trip, we travelled towards False Bay on San Juan Island. There, we again spent time with the 9 whales from our 9 am trip. It was another wonderful trip, with some great passes from Riptide (J30). It is simply astounding how much this whale has grown. The highlight of this trip was a magnificent pass from J26 (Mike). A stop at the Chain Islets to view harbour seals and also educate our guests about transient orcas was an excellent way to cap another nice tour.
On the evening tour, we again travelled to San Juan Island, where we caught up to J-pod whales travelling near False Bay. Once again, we were treated to a wonderful evening in the company of orcas. We had an a superb time, visiting with Mike (J26) and also had some excellent views of Spieiden (J8). However, the most enjoyable part of our trip were the antics of a young orca, most likely Suttles (J40), that kept doing some remarkable half-breaches. An excellent time was had by both passengers and crew.
