Saturday, September 22

On our morning trip on the Pacific Explorer, we headed southwest of Victoria to catch up with some reported orcas. What initially was thought to be a small group of transients, turned out to be much more as both races of killer whale were in the area off of Beecher Bay. After a quick glimpse of a male whale (T10B), we started to notice more orcas and identified some whales with an open saddle patch. The transients disappeared but we were soon overwhelmed by two of our 3 pods of southern resident orca. We had a great pass from Cappucino (K21), and saw a spectacular spyhop. A young orange orca was spotted by alert passengers. This whale was most likely the new L-pod calf, L110 along with her mom L83. After a great visit with the residents we headed into Race Rocks, where we saw 3 different species of pinnipeds. It was a remarkable way to start the day.

This afternoon, we headed east aboard the Orca Spirit to catch up with southern resident orcas that had travelled east through the waters off Victoria this morning. We encountered some L-pod whales, including Faith (L57) heading east towards False Bay on San Juan Island. It was an amazing trip, as we observed whales foraging for salmon in the nutrient rich waters. Our hydrophone picked up lots of echolocation and vocalizations from the piscivorous cetaceans. We had a fantastic visit from a sprouter male, tentatively identified as L85 (Mystery), but the highlight of the trip was a spectacular and somewhat bizarre encounter with L83 (Moonlight) and her calf. L83 is the newest mother in L-pod, and we observed her carrying her young calf towards us on her snout. This behaviour has been documented before, but I had never seen it. It was an incredible experience, concluded with a fabulous spyhop.