Today our guests and crew were happy that the weatherman was wrong because the predicted rainy day turned into an afternoon of sun and clouds with calm seas. We whisked our guests east out of the harbour towards Discovery and Chatham Islands. We searched the surface of the sea for any signs of dorsal fins or blows of mist from a whale's blowhole. It did not take us long to spot 5 Transient Orcas.

Transient Orcas differ from the fish-eating Resident Orcas in that they eat only mammals. They also travel in a single matriline compared to a large pod made up of multiple matrilines like the Resident population.

We were able to identify the family as the T030's, who are made up of T030 the mother, T030A the adult male son, T030B and T030C the two daughters and the newest addition to the family, T030B1! As you can see this family is now made up of 3 generations!

The young calf still has the peach-coloured pigmentation where they will eventually be white. This pigmentation fades after 6 to 12 months. It was very exciting to watch the calf swim in its mother's slipstream. After spending a fantastic part of the afternoon with these orcas, we headed over to Trial Island where we found lots of chubby Harbour Seals lying out on the rocky shores. Any day now we will start to see the new pups lying beside their moms! To top the day off we spotted a Bald Eagle perching on the sign post on the island. This individual was mature with a white head and bright yellow beak.

After a fantastic day on the water we headed back to Victoria with great memories and pictures of our adventure!