Saturday, October 11th
Both the weather and the whales were absolutely magnificent today on this fine October Saturday. With flat calm seas, the Orca Spirit ventured out into Juan de Fuca Strait in search of orcas, humpbacks and other marine mammals. It did not take long for Captain Brad to spot a group of three humpback whales east of Race Rocks. It would turn out to be just an amazing experience as both passengers and crew were in awe of these amazing cetaceans. Naturalist Corey, captain Brad and our group of intrepid guests were thrilled by some fantastic behaviour from the three humpback whales including pectoral fin slaps, fluking and even a few very rare humpback spyhops! While watching the three humpback whales, we spotted a fourth humpback whale a short distance away. We left the the whales to travel to Race Rocks where we watched the antics of several Steller and
The afternoon trip would prove to be equally spectacular. We started our tour by visiting the group of three humpback whales that had so enthralled us this morning. Once again, the whales did not disappoint. The huge whales thrilled us with some amazing passes as the three humpback whales continued to swim and dive in unison. It would prove to be one of the most memorable humpback experiences of my four year naturalist career as the whales surprised us after surfacing from a deep dive and showed up right off our stern. One could not ask for a better pass! We continued our journey, once again showing our guests the majestic Race Rocks in all its pinniped splendor. On the way back we stopped in
