Saturday, July 11th

This morning, we headed out to Hein Bank where a group of L-pod whales had been spotted earlier in the morning. We arrived on scene with the orcas to find a group of about 7 whales working their way northward towards San Juan Island. We spent some time with a small group of orcas that included the large bull Cappucino (K21) and a few females, including Raggedy (K40). We watched these whales surfacing and diving in near unison, with their distinctive black and white markings clearly visible for all to see. As we were about to leave the scene to see some other wildlife, we were surprised to see a few more whales approaching. It was the L2 matriline, with L2 (Grace), L88 (Wavewalker) and L78 (Gaia). We had an exhilarating pass to end a wonderful orca experience. This was not the end of our wildlife tour, as we saw two bald eagles near Chatham Island and several harbour seals (with a few pups) in the Chain Islets. The many seal pups in the area, will undoubtedly bring an abundance of transient orca sightings beginning in mid to late August!

Our afternoon trip travelled to south of False Bay on San Juan Island. We spent some time with a group of J-pod whales, but our guests were especially thrilled with an encounter from the J14 matriline. We witnessed porpoising (high-speed swimming), breaches, and an incredibly awesome spyhop! Riptide (J30), a young adolescent male who has been going through an incredible growth spurt was appreciated by all, and we saw the cute new calf (J45) travelling alongside his mother Samish (J14). We also saw some tail-slaps, an important communication behaviour, that may also serve a purpose in stunning prey. Satisfied with another great trip, we headed back to the harbour.

Our evening trip was another super experience as we encountered members L-pod, the L2 matriline travelling north just northeast of Kelp Reef. We were thrilled to see Gaia (L78) and Grace (L2) travelling with another female or young male. Almost immediately upon arrival, we saw an incredible breach! Wavewalker, was initially nowhere to be found, however, we would see him later. We spent most of our time with the L2's and witnessed some social behaviour, including tail slaps and pectoral slaps. The most amazing behaviour occurred near the end of our experience as some orcas were definitely in predatory mode. We surface lunges, some high speed porpoising and even another breach! Gaia and his matriline mates thrilled is with an amazing pass to end another great trip.