Saturday, June 27th

It was another magnificent day at Orca Spirt Adventures. Our morning started with a trip aboard the Pacific Explorer, as we headed to Haro Strait in search of our resident orca pods. We travelled towards False Bay on San Juan Island, then to Salmon Bank and ultimately arrived at Hein Bank. Although, we did not find our resident pods, we were ecstatic to find three minke whales engaged in lunge feeding! Minke whales have been a common sight at Hein Bank this season and we have had some exhilarating viewing experiences. This morning was no different. Also at Hein Bank, we found several harbour seals out foraging. It was definitely a successful excursion enjoyed by both passengers and crew.

On our afternoon trip aboard the Orca Spirit we received word that J-pod was travelling towards Salmon Bank, so we travelled there hoping to catch up with them, which we did. This trip was a wonderful trip, one in which our guests were able to see an incredible assortment of whale behaviour including porpoising (high-speed swimming), foraging, spyhops and even a breach or two thrown in. During the trip, we had the picturesque Mount Baker as a very scenic and wonderful backdrop.

On the evening trip, we were back aboard the Pacific Explorer and travelling back to San Juan where we encountered J-pod north of Lime Kiln State Park. There we had a wonderful experience with several members of J-pod, including Ruffles (J1), Mike (J26), and Keet (J33). Once again, our guests were able to experience the best of orca behaviour with breaches, spyhops and tail and pectoral slapping.