Thursday, October 05, 2006

Humpbacks / Minke / Sealions / Porpoise

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Today was yet another perfectly flat and calm day. The sea was like a mirror to the sky and almost silky in nature. We traveled only a few miles off of Victoria where we found a mother and calf humpback whale milling calmly about. We watched them for about half an hour and then moved on to watch another lone humback who was further south into the shipping lane of the Juan de Fuca Strait. We watched that whale for a little while and then proceeded onwards passing some Dalls porpoise when we found a Minke whale 30 foot baleen whale)! We actually saw the whale feeding at the surface several times, some even saw the baleen plates!. Although I didn't capture a photo of it, I saw it and also got a pretty decent image of the whale as it traveled past. I have not seen a Minke whale yet this season so this was an exciting day for me.

We then pushed on into a slight fog bank as we approached Race Rocks. As per usual, the male Stellar and California sealions as well as harbour seals were hauled out and some fighting for space. There are quite a few sealions now so the space is becoming more limited. On the way home we saw some shy harbour porpoise milling not far off of the Victoria breakwater. An excellent day. Although our black and white friends were not available, we certainly didn't have any shortage of marine life to encounter!

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