Wednesday, September 26th

It was a foggy morning as we headed out of the harbour but soon emerged through the fog to clear sunny skies. Everyone was looking out for any signs of a water spout and a dorsal fin as we headed south-west out of Victoria. A passenger soon shouted that he had spotted something on the horizon - as we searched we soon seen about 20 blows in the distance, heading towards us. It was the resident orcas! We were soon joined by members of J pod, then L pod, then also members of K pod - it was a superpod! They were travelling east in resting mode (sleeping for whales), travelling and surfacing to breathe together. We had excellent views of Ruffles and Faith, 2 of the adult males from J and L pod respectively. Our next stop was Race Rocks to view the Californian and Steller Sea Lions and Harbour Seals. As we made our way back to Victoria, Captain Brad spotted two humpback whales. We spend some time observing them. Again we had to leave and we soon reached the bank of fog outside Victoria harbour. As we entered the fog another humpback whale came into view! We eventually made it back to the harbour after an eventful trip.

The afternoon trip left the harbour with information that a humpack whale had been spotted south of the harbour. We soon discovered two humpback whales almost in the path of a freighter ship. We slowed to allow the ship to pass and the humpback surfaced in the wake of the ship. The humpback tail lobbed a few times giving everyone on board plenty of photo opportunities. The superpod of orcas were in the area so we headed east to find them. We caught up with members of J pod off San Juan Island and again had excellent views of Ruffles. On our way back to harbour we discovered yet another humpback whale just off Clover Point, very close to shore and also two more in the distance. Another great end to a fabulous trip.


September 25th Photos