Thursday, July 9th
This morning, we headed out on the Pacific Explorer to Hein Bank in search of orcas, minke whales, and other marine mammals. On the way there, we stopped to view a rather strange-looking porpoise. It proved to be a hybrid porpoise, strikingly marked with white on its dorsal surface. What was truly surprising was that the hybrid porpoise had a calf. Often hybrids are infertile, but not in this case. At the nutrient rich waters of the bank, we were thrilled to find at least two minke whales lunge feeding and had an absolutely mind-blowing pass from one of the large baleen whales. We drifted by the north Hein Bank marker and nesting double-crested cormorants. After our whale encounter, we travelled to the Chain Islets, where we had some excellent viewing of many harbour seals and a variety of interesting bird life including cormorants and black oystercatchers.
Our afternoon trip aboard the Orca Spirit headed back to Hein Bank for more minke whale excitement. This afternoon, the whales were being a little more elusive, however, we were able to get some amazing views of the spectacular cetaceans. Also on our afternoon trip, we visited the
With no sightings of orcas today, our 4 pm trips aboard both the Pacific Explorer and Orca Spirit headed back to Hein Bank for yet more sightings of minke whales. Minke whales have been incredibly abundant and active this year and we were thrilled yet again to have some great passes with the speedy minke whales. By looking for the often abundant bird life, we were able to spot the minke whales, doing what they do best - lunge feeding! It was a great experience on the water today, one that proved in the very occasional absence of orcas, there is still lots to see in the
