Saturday, May 9th

What an amazing day yet again in the Salish Sea. This faternoon, we headed out towards Seabird Point to look for a minke whale that had been spotted earlier in the day. With fast currents, hundreds of sea birds, all signs pointed to somer rich feeding for the small baleen whales. While "minke mooching" as we affectionaltely call it, with our engines shut down, we noticed a huge congregation of harbour porpoises, perhaps a hundred or more feeding in the rich waters east of Discovery Island. It was another magnificent encounter with these normally elusive, shy cetaceans, but unfortunately there was no sign of the minke whale. After a brieft stop at Chatham Island to view some harbour seals, we headed southwest towards Race Rocks. You never truly know what you will encounter on any given trip, and today we were fortunate to encounter an Elephant seal logging at the sruface a few miles east of Race Rocks. This unusual sight was thrilling as our guests marvelled at the size of these amazing pinnipeds. At 14 feet and 6000 pounds, the northern elephant seal is the world's second largest pinnped. We watching the seal for several minutes and left after he slowly submerged. Our next stop was Race Rocks, where once again California sea lions, Steller sea lions, harbour seals and at least one juvenile eagle were among the highlights. Our last stop of the day was Parry Bay tio check out the eagle nest, where we saw two mature bald eagles. All in all, it was another breathtaking day on the water!