Although skies in November are usually grey, and rain is often the norm for this time of year, there is always an adventure to be found. It was that sense of adventure that took visitors from as far away as Winnipeg, Australia, and the Netherlands out in a yellow ' Prince of Whales ' Zodiac. The 11am Sunday trip took us south into the Strait of Juan de Fuca in search of whales. With glimpses of sun between the clouds, and calm water all around, our visibility for observing whales was very good. Our experienced skipper, James ' Radar ' was at the controls. We scanned the horizon in every direction looking for Humpback whales that had been seen the day before. At one point while searching for the Humpbacks we were surrounded by six Harbour Seals. Unfortunately no Humpbacks were found. Instead, we came across 9 Transient Orca that were very active off Albert Head. These are the stealth hunters of the ocean, the top predators. Every behaviour of these magnificent mammals was observed, including breaching, Fluke waving, porpoising, cartwheeling, pec-slapping, backdiving. They were chasing small sea birds and were uncharacteristically noisy making sqeakes and whistles with their blow-holes. These female orca and their young appeared to be having a great time. This was an AMAZING encounter with Transient Orca. Our visitors really had a memorable experience.Photos by Marie "Orca-Magic" and Clint "Orcawizard"
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