HAPPY CANADA DAY!
Sunday, July 1st
As we left the harbour on the first trip we were pleasantly surprised to find orcas in front of Clover Point. We weren’t quite sure which pod it was but once Ruffles (J1) was identified we knew it was J-pod. The pod was resting when we arrived on scene but by the end of our trip they had started to wake up by performing a few tail slaps.
In the afternoon we found J-pod moving along San Juan Island. The whales were very spread apart and we didn’t have to move very far as the leaders decided to change directions and come back to where were located. On our way back to Victoria, Ruffles made another nice pass as he was trying to catch up with the pods direction change.
This evening, we travelled near Andrew's Bay off San Juan Island, where we encountered J-pod travelling south and foraging along the shoreline. We watched the whales hunt with some dramatic lunge and chase behaviours at the surface, and then ventured offshore where we discovered another group of whales near Kelp Reef. The whales were very vocal tonight; echolocation and lots of calls were picked up by our hydrophone. Near Kelp Reef, we had a tremendous pass by Oreo (J22) who was feeding in the tidal rips, and also got to see Ruffles (J1). It was another great evening aboard the Orca Spirit.