Humpbacks, porpoises, pinnipeds / Chantelle Tucker

Today we departed the Victoria inner harbor feeling the brisk breeze on our faces, reminding us that it is not summer any more :) None the less, we anticipate the acceleration of the boat and then we journey. We found ourselves with 2 humpback whales probably 4-5 miles off Victoria shoreline in the Juan de Fuca strait. They were quite calm and were milling.

We proceeded towards the west, along the way encountering the little torpedo shaped porpoises we call Dalls porpoise. A school of them zig zagged at the bow of the Ocean Magic as she coasted. We also had a few curious Stellar sealions check us out.

We had a lovely trip to Sooke - along the way experiencing the rollers slightly moving beneath us:) We arrived off Sooke Harbour and found 2 more humpbacks feeding. In fact, one animal was feeding right next to one of our own zodiacs! Fantastic.

On our way home we stopped by Race Rocks and visited the many groupings of male California and Stellar sealions. We also saw a very large group of cormorants. I think it's fair to say that Race Rocks is an explosion of life right now. The sea was sliver, fall is really here and it's alive and magical.

Humpbacks, Porpoises, Pinnipeds / Chantelle Tucker

Our resident killer whales were not in the area however there were 3 humbpack whales milling just a few miles from Victoria. It was flat calm today, perfect for today's voyage. We watched the humpbacks fluke about 4 times, each giving us a glorious look at their backs and tails. For a moment they also "logged" at the surface, which is sort of resting and rolling. As we were departing for Race Rocks, and I was changing my lens (of course) one of the humpbacks breached right next to the boat! Just my luck! Oh well maybe next time.

As we traveled towards Race Rocks, we were greeted by a dozen or so Dalls porpoise who rode the bow wake for a few minutes. Amazing to see this, and my first time watching them "rooster tail".

When we arrived at Race Rocks, most of the Stellars were in the water, hurding around in packs. I was fortunate to see several animals breaching right next to the boat and you can see one animal is branded for tracking purposes. After several years of traveling to Race Rocks, this was my first time documenting them breaching. It was amazing! Of course, another wonderful ocean magic adventure.

Lpod Sooke / Humpback / Pinnipeds

We heard that Lpod was traveling quickly out of the area, we found them 1 mile off of Secretary Island spread wide across the Juan De Fuca Strait. All were traveling north west out of the area - and some speed porpoising as seen in the photos above. We watched several members of Lpod pass and then we turned back to Race Rocks.

On the way over we found a lone humpback milling. We saw the animal surface several times befor taking a deep dive and disapearing, only to surface a few miles away :). We carried on to Race Rocks where we found a variety of pinnipeds; stellar sea lions, california sea lions, harbour seals, and cormorants. We headed home shortly after and managed to slip through the whole trip without being in rain. A wonderous day indeed, yet another ocean magic adventure!