Saturday, May 5

This afternoon we headed into the waters of Juan De Fuca Strait on the lookout for transient orcas and other local wildlife. Our first stop of the afternoon was Whirl Bay to view an eagle's nest while we watched two eagles flying overhead. Continuing west, we travelled along the shoreline towards Sooke stopping to watch some harbour seals along the way. The orcas proved to be elusive today, so we travelled to Race Rocks Ecological Reserve where we saw 4 different species of pinnipeds - harbour seals, elephant seals, and both California and Stellar sea lions. A final highlight of the trip was the several minutes we spent with some foraging porpoise east of Race Rocks.