Saturday, May 30th

Our morning tour started with a journey east to the Chain Islets and some excellent sightings of a couple of mature bald eagles at the Great Chain Island cormorant colony. One of the eagles was being chased off by a group of gulls, undoubtedly not happy at the presence of the eagles near their nesting sight. We toured the Chain Islets, educating our guests about the local harbour seals and the important role they play in the coastal food web as both predator and prey. A large southwest arc eventually took us to Becher Bay, where we saw another eagle perched on a tree top - a perfect photo opportunity! The last stop of our trip was Race Rocks where we saw elephant seals, along with several more harbour seals. What a wonderful way to start another excellent day!

On our afternoon trip, we travelled south into Juan de Fuca Strait where we started off viewing a few harbour porpoise, our smallest cetacean in the calm waters. We travelled to the historic Race Rocks lighthouse, where we found some northern elephant seals and harbour seals. We then travelled to the Chain Islets where we saw several more harbour seals basking in the afternoon sun. Just as we started to turn back towards the harbour, a couple of our keen-eyed guests helped me spot and identify a minke whale! We had a great encounter with the small baleen whale, a sleek, stream-lined relative of the massive blue whale. This afternoon's trip was also spectacular as Mt. Rainier made a rare appearance.

Our last trip of the day took us to Hein Bank, where we engaged in some minke whale watching. Hein Bank is a hotspot for minke whales and we were thrilled to spot at least one minke whale and had some excellent passes. Also out feeding in the calm waters of Hein Bank were some harbour seals. All in all, it was another great day at Orca Spirit Adventures.