Tuesday, September 23rd

Expect the unexpected…

The Orca Spirit headed out this morning on the search for cetaceans, and luck was upon us. After heading out to the again calm waters south of Victoria, we had gotten a report that one of the vessels had picked up some transient orcas just south of Beecher Bay. Arriving on scene we ID’d them as the T46’s, a group of four orcas including a brand new calf that is less than 6 months old and we know this because its white patches are still orange! These animals were going on really deep dives (4-7 minutes) and surfacing in different directions (typical transient behaviour they say) so we decided to go and check out some Pacific White-Sided Dolphins (aka “Lags” around here due to their Genus Lagenorhynchus). Now folks it is extremely extremely rare to be able to see Lags in these waters as they are typically found further north up the island, but today was passengers lucky day as they got to witness two Lags swimming side-by-side at extremely high speeds, jumping and leaping in the wake and beside the Orca Spirit. It was just incredible! Now there are whale watchers that I’ve spoken to that have been working here for more than 4 years and never seen Pacific White-Sided Dolphins, so passengers today were unbelievably lucky to be able to witness, these fast-swimming, agile, acrobatic delphinids leaping out of the water right next to our boat. I was seriously jumping around like a little kid at Xmas! Absolutely amazing to witness this! Then just when I thought the trip couldn’t get any better, we look up and literally less than 200m away we saw a huge male orca surface! Then a female right next to him! It was T20 and T21! It was as if they came out of nowhere! Passengers got a phenomenal look at this big male mammal-eating orca as he surfaced again from his deep dive. Wow! It seemed as though the Lags high-tailed it out of the area, which is not surprising as they are a menu item for some of these mammal-eating orcas. We were in Race Passage as we witnessed all this delphinids action and as T20 and T21 made their way towards Race Rocks we saw an abundance of Turkey Vultures hovering around Bentick Island. There were easily 30 of these condors hovering over the island. It was another incredible trip with Orca Spirit. This was my second time seeing Lags. The first time was back in April so I was truly lucky (as were passengers!) to be able to see these majestic white-sided creatures again. And of course seeing orca is always spectacular!

The afternoon trip headed out to unbelievably flat calm seas where we again came across the iconic male T20 and his believed to be mother T21. The sun was out, the water was flat calm, and with the tall peaks and snow caps of the Olympic Peninsula as a backdrop, passengers really couldn’t have asked for better conditions taking photos. As these top predators in the ocean surfaced in the Strait of Juan De Fuca, water broke over their rostrum, the sun reflected off their jet black dorsal fins, and sprays of water shot into the air and faded away into mist, and the sound of their blow echoed for all to hear... just amazing. We then headed across to Race Rocks and upon arriving we had got a report that there was in fact another male orca in Race Rocks. I had never seen an orca within Race Rocks before, and when this happens boats aren’t allowed in as it is a Marine Ecological Reserve. It was very interesting to watch an abundance of Stellar Sea Lions swim around in the waters, not seeming to be too bothered by the presence of their predator. Still, a lone orca is going to have a very difficult time taking down a Stellar on its own. The orca swam through the kelp, draping it over its 6ft tall dorsal fin, and then eventually continued on east towards the San Juan Islands. We then went through Race Rocks and as we watched the Stellar sea lions hauled out and socialising on the rocks I counted at least 60 of them, all together, being very vocal (and a tad on the nose!). I seriously cannot believe the diversity and abundance within this area.
Within one single area you have orca, 4 species of pinniped (Stellar and California sea lions, harbour seals and an Elephant Seal), harbour porpoises foraging just south of the Rocks, and then an abundance of marine birds (at least 5 species). Literally where else in the world can you travel half an hour from the capital of a province and see soo much diversity in a single area?
There aren’t too many places I can tell you that!

Another great day on the water. I seriously cannot get over how much you can see in one trip. It truly is breathtaking folks. Check out some pics below of T20, and the numerous turkey vultures hovering above Bentick Island, the abundance of Stellar sea lions on Race Rocks and a nice landscape shot of Race Rocks with the Olympic Peninsula.