Transient Orca Spyhopping
T44 Transient Orca Male
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Humpback dorsal fin
Humpback fluking as it dives----------------------------------------------------------
Race Rocks light house ..... lit in 1860
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Sealion and Harbour Seal at Race Rocks
Photos by Derek Sterling
Sealions and Harbour Seals at Race Rocks
One of the Humpbacks fluking and showing it's unique tail markings.
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Transient Orca T44 (male) with a female
Group of Transient Orca that were traveling with T44
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"A wonderful time was had by all"photos by Derek Sterling
Minke Whale
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On the 3:30 Ocean Magic voyage we first ventured to Race Rocks where guests got a glimpse and smell of the many pinnipeds (seals, california and stellar sealions) lazying and fighting on the rocks bye the lighthouse. Then we headed east and caught up with members of southern resident killer whales J and L pod milling off the San Juan Island shoreline. They were headed out west in the morning but turned around with the tide and were carried quickly to their feeding grounds of the USA. J1 and others were seen northbound about 3-4 miles into Haro Strait while other members of J and L pod were sighted milling and fishing close to the island. When we arrived a lone female was breaching. She even did a little tail flip dance flicking her flukes to the side. Some Dalls porpoise were seen milling in the area as well. Faith L57 and others moved past Lime Kiln park I am sure making shoreline onlookers very happy. Blackberry J27 past us along with other members of Jpod and did a beautiful spy hop along the shoreline. The lighting was spectacular tonight glistening their skin with sun sparkles non stop :D Another perfect experience on our beautiful west coast and summer has finally arrived !
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Today on the 3:30 Ocean Magic trip, members of Lpod a southern resident family were present, spread out very far all throughout the Haro strait and the San Juan Island shoreline. Most of the animals were traveling, including a very slow moving Mega L41 and then Skana L79 who was seen kelping along the way. Each time before descending he would wave his tail flukes with beautiful draping kelp hanging off. It was hard not to take the personally :D Today passengers were treated to picture perfect weather conditions with elegant wildlife beauty.
(animals swim past our stern)
(predation lunge)
(approaching a seal)
And finally some other wildlife :)
(california sealion)
(harbour seal)
(Race Rocks)
On our 3:30 Ocean Magic trip, we arrived at the tip of Vancouver Island at Christopher Point where a group of transient (meat eating) orcas were found heading west towards Sooke. T002B, T046B, T046B1 are some of the animals we sighted today. About 5 mins after our arrival, the animals became very active right around the shoreline. We saw a predation lunge from one of the larger animals. Lots of group tail slapping, aerial activity, milling and feeding however the prey remained unseen beneath the surface. The animals continued this behavior throughout our trip as they moved along the shoreline stopping to kelp and breach along the way. The animals stalked a harbour seal sitting on a rock - they dance and tail slapped while looking at the seal. I do not know if they actually ended up killing that seal however the animals showed much predation behavior and many gulls were on scene throughout our time indicating probably multiple kills. Closer to the end of our stay, the animals moved off the shoreline area and came towards our boat stern while displaying belly rolls and tail slaps. The calf in particular was very active breaching over and over. Honestly I have never seen animals breach so much, not even the southern residents who are sighted breaching often. Those must have been some very happily fed and full animals. Active behavior indicates successful hunting and feeding.
After such an epic view of the transient orcas we found a lone humpback whale just 1 or 2 miles offshore of the orcas. We watched the animal give us a lovely fluke before heading to race rocks where we saw many pinnipeds gathered on the rocks. California and Stellar sealions along with harbour seals were sighted. What an epic day out there on our beautiful west coast!
(Pacific White Sided dolphin)
(Harbour Porpoise)
(hybrid porpoises)
(Dalls Porpoise)
(Cappuccino K21 - large sprouter male breaching and showing mating behavior)
Well I thought it was going to be difficult to top the noon trip however we managed to match the trip. The whole day was probably the best day of the year. On this 3:30 Ocean Magic trip we saw 5 types of cetaceans; Pacific White sided dolphin (located about 1-2 miles south east of Trial Island), Dalls Porpoise, harbour porpoise, Hybrid (cross between a Dall and a harbour porpoise) as well as our killer whales by San Juan Island. Once again, the animals were still very active in their social behavior bouncing around all over Haro Strait.
During this trip, we got a very obvious view of one of the animals - (large sprouting male) Cappuccino K21 displaying mating behavior. He was sighted with Lpod's Grace L2, and Wave Walker L88 (male) engaging in very frisky behavior. Cappuccino was seen lifting Grace out of the water and on to her side - the rest is history. After their "session" they moved along each breaching out of the water one at a time. Today was one of the most epic whales watching days ever for the crew onboard!
(Large male breaching in the distance)
Today was jam packed with non stop whale action! On this flat, sunny calm and warm day we headed to San Juan Island where apparently ALL the killer whales had returned and were in very social activity. There were animals EVERYWHERE! We saw pretty much all behaviors; breaching, spyhops, tail slaps, group socialization, kelping, and also indication of frisky behavior. On our way home we stopped by the Great Chain Islands in Oak Bay to observe the harbour seals. You can see in the image there is a large seal, indicating she is probably pregnant.
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(Blackberry / J27)
J16 slick with her son J33 keet (96) and J42 - (2007)
After busting through the fog (actually it moved to the south of us) we enjoyed a flat calm and sunny cruise to the beautiful San Juan Island where Jpod was foraging. The animals were spread wide from the shoreline to the middle of Haro Strait both north and south. We ended up near Lime Kiln Park where several family members arrived to the grounds. They passed through in eager fashion. We were able to identify sprouter male Blackberry J27 in hunting behavior, some lunges and attempts at fishing for salmon. One animal breached but a distance from us. Caught a lovely family pass of Slick J16 and her children Keet J33 and newbie J42. On the way home we stopped and took a look at the harbour seals hauled out at Trial Island. Today was a pretty awesome summer like day out on the water.
Here are some captures from our guest Marie O'Shaughnessy
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(K5 News - see their footage here; K POD Frolics ?
Today on our beautiful 3:30 Ocean Magic trip we traveled to the east where Jpod had returned from the west and were approaching the San Juan Island area in Haro Strait to feed. We arrived just as animals were in high traveling mode to their hunting grounds. Many spy hops along the travels as well as side exposing, pec slapping and milling - foraging behavior. The animals remained spread apart feeding in small groups or solo. We then watched as a mother and calf - Mako J39 (2003) and mother Blossom J11 (1972) forage in the strait. We were situated at Pile Pt when we departed at 5:15.
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Today on the 12:15 trip we headed to Race Rocks ecological reserve to introduce guests to the seals and sealions, sea birds including a brown pelican who is not native to this area. It was an appropriate reason, following that we were going to search for a group of transients.
We found the group who is thought to be of 9 individuals; T090 T090B, T124, T124D, T124E, T100, T100B, T100C, T100D. The group were making a kill when arrived on scene at about 1:45. We know this because of the behavior, lots of activity, directional milling in small groups, porpoising, some spy hops, belly rolls, tail slapping, tail lobbing. One of the youngsters lunged right out of the water in pursuit of lunch! We watched the group hunt until they seemed content to moved on. They were located at about 3 miles south east of Port Angeles and headed west into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. They traveled in a nice family formation on their departure from us. Always so awesome to see these animals in the wild of their nature.
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(J1 / Ruffles swims past our stern)
(Ruffles / J1 - 57 years old)
Today on our 12:15 Ocean Magic voyage, we set out to find killer whales. We found Jpod traveling very close to the shoreline tail slapping along the way. They were traveling just north of San Juan Island along Henry Island at 2pm. Eventually some of the animals wandered out into the strait. We were fortunate to have a decent look at Ruffles / J1 as well as another younger animal half breaching about 5 times in a row. This animal was also sighted laying on their side pec slapping and in the background, another animal is seen spyhop / breaching as well at the same time (see ecard). I did not notice that until after processing the images. On our way home we stopped at Chain Island located in Oak Bay off of Victoria to see some harbour seals and marine birds. Quite an active day out on the water today for this holiday weekend.
