Thursday, September 11th

The Orca Spirit went out this morning with the sun blazing at 9:00 am, it sure did not feel like September. We had a hunch that the whales were out past the Southern tip of Vancouver Island. Being the first vessel on the water, we first cruised the coast where we often find the transient orcas sneaking around for a harbour seal or two. We came to Beachey Head spotting a bald eagle perched for a morning fish. We then realized that the whales were just around the other side of Race Rocks where we must have just passed them by. A good look at the bird of prey, and a quick turn and we were alongside the group of transient orcas that we have been fortunate to watch all week. The group of five, with T44, the big male always catches the eye, along with the rest of T41's and T100's. We had a few very good sights with a row of all five of them "charging" the boat just before a deep dive. We topped the beautiful morning with a cruise to Race Rocks to watch the California sea lions battle for the hottest rock in the sun.

We were very excited to hear this afternoon our resident orcas were on their way towards Victoria after some time spent far out west. We got to a spot just east of Race Rocks where we had left the transient orcas in the morning. We could see the whales spread out to the middle of the Straight, all the way to the coast of Bentinck Island. We pulled in and were soon surrounded by J-pod, L-pod, and possibly K-pod stretched further out. We had L78, the 19 year old named Gaia pass right off the stern. We heard a really loud slap off the back of the boat, turning to see the giant pectoral fin smacking the surface, again and again. A wonderful greeting. The hydrophone picked up amazing calls and whistles, as the whales communicated above the surface, as well as vocalizing below. From that point on, we had white-water splashes in all directions from the whales breaching, cartwheeling, spyhopping, lobtailing, and did I mention breaching, jumping, soaring, and breaching some more. It must have been a celebration, as we have never seen the residents play (or breach) so much. Today was a phenomenal display of the resident killer whale's playful, social, and unique behavior.