September 20, 2011

It was a perfect morning for whale watching today! The sun was shining and the water was smooth as glass. We aimed the Pacific Explorer towards the east, cruising over to the United States, San Juan Island to be exact, to search for orcas. And boy was our search fruitful! There were black and white whales all over the place! The first whale we easily identified was L-41 or MEGA! Mega (or Megatron as I like to call him) is a personal favourite, with his 6-foot dorsal fin with a notch out of the back edge near the top. Mega is now the oldest male in the endangered Southern Resident population. Males reach maturity around the age of 20. Mega was born in 1977, so he is a well established bachelor among the females of J-pod and K-pod. :) We moved along to another group of females and calves, one even breached out of the water! It was amazing! Orcas breach just for the sheer fun of it. We also dropped down the hydrophone and listened to the whales squeak, whistle, chirp and echolocate. It was a morning full of amazing moments with the whales. On our way back we made it half way to Discovery Island when we spotted dozens of Harbour Porpoises. Normally boat shy, these speedy animals surprised us by leaping above the surface in all directions. It was truly a wonderful morning on the water with so many amazing animals! Thanks to all our guests for coming out and enjoying animals in the wild!