Wednesday, September 5


In the morning, the fog was so thick as we headed out of the harbour that it was difficult to even see the breakwater. We headed south and in a few miles the fog began to clear but after a while we were soon in dense fog once more! Our first stop was at Race Rocks where we viewed the Californian and Steller Sea Lions. The Californian Sea Lions were barking almost as loudly as the fog horn. We continued our search for whales and headed south once more towards Washington State. The call then came through that resident orcas had been spotted not far from Victoria to the south of Trail Island. We were soon on the scene and out of the fog appeared members of J pod. As John turned off the engine we waited as the whales came closer to the boat. J27 also known as Blackberry, a 16 year old sprouting male swam from the rear right underneath the boat. He was swimming in his usual family group along with his 4 year old sibling Mako (J39). They are they great-grandchildren of J2 also known as Granny, who is thought to be 96 years old.


By the afternoon trip, the fog had cleared and the sun was shining. The report was that J pod were feeding off the south west of San Juan. We soon caught up with Ruffles (J1) and his 96 year old mother, Granny (J2) from J pod. The pod was spread out over a large area probably feeding for salmon, so we left to find more of the family. Nearer to shore just off Lime Kiln lighthouse, we found another of the sprouting males, Riptide (J30) with his family group, including his 3 year old sister Suttles (J40). On the way back to Victoria we stopped off at the Chain Islands, where the harbour seals were basking in the sun along with the cormorants. Among the rocks, we also spotted red-necked phalaropes, black oystercatchers and numerous gulls.