Whale Blog

August 21, 2010

This morning, we headed out on the Orca Spirit and began our search for cetaceans off Constance Bank. August is when the humpback whales begin to arrive and we scanned the waters hoping to spot a blow. We continued eastward towards Discovery Island, where we have been spotting array whale on a regular basis. Unfortunately, we did not spot a gray whale, but saw several harbour seals. We continued our journey through Oak Bay and travelled towards Race Rocks when we received a report that a humpback whale had been found. It turned out to be two humpback whales, likely the same mother and calf pair we had on Monday. Like Monday, we had an awesome experience. We witnessed several tail slaps, pectoral slaps, cartwheels and even a few half-breaches! It was an incredible display by two of the oceans' most amazing animals.

On the afternoon trip, we were privileged to encounter the mother and calf pair again. As we arrived on scene, there was some rolling and play behavior from the young calf and some awesome fluking behavior. We had a great experience with these amazing whales and headed for Race Rocks. At Race Rocks, we saw many sea lions as they continue to return to Race Rocks in large numbers. There was some amazing predatory behaviour as several sea lions were definitely in the process of having a light lunch. One sea lion actually tossed a large salmon! Although we did not find any orcas today, we enjoyed the tremendous diversity of the Salish Sea.

August 18, 2010

Wow, now we are talking about a lot of whales. Both the morning and afternoon tours looked on as members from J-Pod (28 orcas) and L-Pod (39 orcas) foraged for fish from San Juan Islands north tip, down it's west side, then to the center of Haro Strait. We were able to get good looks of such individuals as J-Pods Granny (J2) Ruffles (J1) and Mike (J26) and L-Pods Mega (L41), Matia (L77) and Calypso (L94).
On the morning tour we were also fortunate enough to watch a single Gray whale as it fed near Discovery Island.

August 16, 2010

This afternoon was absolutely incredible and the trip I have been waiting for for years. Our trip started out by viewing a resting J-pod (and more) as they moved slowly across the Victoria waterfront literally minutes from the harbour. As the whales made their way towards Trial Island, we watched some whales spyhop and tail-lob. To see the whales surface and dive in unison with over 30 whales was stunningly beautiful against the backdrop of Beacon Hill Park. There were rumours that humpbacks were about, so we left the orcas in search of them. We encountered a mother and calf humpback whale a few miles south of the orcas. We really had no idea what we would experience. It started with a cartwheel, where a whale throws its tail through the air and turned in to the most amazing humpback whale encounter I have ever had the privilege to witness. Simply put, it was a breach-fest! One of young guests counted 42 from the mother and calf with each whale breaching several times. It is hard to describe what it is like to see a humpback whale breach. I hope the pictures do it justice.

August 14, 2010

It was a tremendous cetacean experience, as this morning we encountered 3 species of whales on one trip! Our encounter began with a great encounter of a resting group of whales making their way slowly northward along the northwest coast of Vancouver Island. We travelled north with the orcas and enjoyed a brief encounter with a minke whale. Near the end of our viewing time with the orcas, guests were privileged to witness several breaches. It was another awesome trip, concluded by a fabulous encounter with a gray whale. Orcas, a minke and a gray whale - it was definitely a great start to the day.

Our afternoon encounter was a lovely experience spent in the company of the L12's, a subpod of our largest group of resident orcas. We had a great encounter with Mega (L41) and an absolutely wonderful encounter with L94 (Calypso) and her calf (L113). We concluded our ecotour by cruising the east side of Discovery Island to view harbour seals and had a scenic cruise of Trial Island.

Our evening trip was another fantastic trip, and one which we will remember for a long time to come. We started our whale experience by travelling near Hein Bank. The seas were stunningly calm, the air was warm and the whales were beautiful as usual. We watched Mega (L41) as he travelled slowly southbound, and his sister Calypso (L94) and her young calf thrilled us with an amazing pass. While we watched the resident orcas, a minke was spotted nearby! As we watched the resident orcas, our captain received a report of orcas near Victoria, so we headed back to the harbour.
Our fabulous day of whale watching was concluded with a great encounter with 11 resting transient orcas, including T31, an approximately 56 year old transient male. The lighting was superb with the sky at dusk and a rising moon. Rarely do we see such a large group of transient orcas. What a wonderful way to end a glorious day on the Salish Sea.