Saturday, August 23

Captain John got some beautiful photos on board the Pacific Explorer afternoon tour.

This morning, Captain Brad, naturalists Corey and Kaylin ventured out of the harbour in search of orcas and other wildlife. We had received word of whales on San Juan Island and travelled east, where we located a group of orcas near Pile Point. The whales were travelling tight to shore. It was another peaceful experience, watching mostly J-pod orcas travelling in a large group. We noticed some spyhopping and some distance breaches! It was then that we received word about another group of orcas closer to Victoria. K-pod had been found travelling inbound! We headed back towards Victoria and found K-pod. We had a wonderful pass from the K14 matriline, including the new baby K42, only about 4 months old! With sightings of whales from all 3 pods, it was a great way to start the day!

The whale extravaganza continued in the afternoon. Both covered vessels travelled south of Discovery Island, where K-pod was making their way towards San Juan Island. There, we encountered some K-pod whales porpoising or high-speed swimming! This is just a truly wondrous behaviour, one in which we can witness the true power of the killer whale. We watched several whales doing this, even the new calf! As we continued our way east, we spent some time with one of my favourite whales, K21 (Cappuccino) and were even treated some spectacular breaching from Skagit (K12). One of the highlights of my now almost four years as a naturalist occurred near the end of our tour, as K-pod met up with the other two pods near San Juan Island. This afternoon was one of the first times I had actually been their when the three pods met up. With breaching, spyhopping, tail slaps and other tremendous social behaviours occurring and lots of vocalizations on our hydrophone, it was a thrilling moment, one that will be remembered by both guests and crew!