Tuesday, June 5th

This morning we were not quite sure where the Orcas were located, so decided to head east and look along the San Juan Islands. The cold weather and drizzle did not deter many of our guests from staying on our top deck and enjoying the fresh air. Our patience paid off because after heading north on Rosario Strait, we were finally greeted by members of J-Pod. The oldest female, Granny, did some fantastic breaches and spy-hops. We also saw the enormous fin of Ruffles, the eldest male, numerous times. Although a long trip, we all returned home with smiles on our faces!

On our afternoon tour we caught up to J-Pod as they were following salmon north up the west side of San Juan Island. We were able to get a great look at Ruffles (J1) and Granny (J2) who were feeding farther offshore from the rest of J-Pod. The others, staying well inshore, were spread out feeding in the ever tidal currents. We were fortunate enough to get to hear great eco-locations and social vocalizations as the whales passed by. We also stopped at an outer reef of the Chain Islands where about 2 dozen harbour seals were fighting the rising tide to stay in the sun. Although it got wet and rough on the water this afternoon, everyone onboard were pleased to see the animals in their natural habitat and to get a taste of the real west coast.


Monday, June 4th

Today’s tours were spent viewing a foraging J-Pod between Hein Bank and LimeKiln Lighthouse (alone the west shore of the U.S. San Juan Islands). As the pod milled around after salmon, they not only changed directions but also displayed their social side. We were pleased to see several breaches, tail-lobbing and porpoising. Overall a great look at this amazing group of Orcas. On our return to Victoria’s Inner Harbour we stopped at the Chain and Trial Islands to view the many Harbour Seals hauled out in the rocks and a bald eagle atop the rocks.