Our last ' Ocean Magic 2 ' wildlife adventure for this season 2009, headed out into the Strait of Juan de Fuca under heavy grey skies. It looked like we would be heading into some rain as we traveled west. There was a bit of a chop on the water as we searched for wildlife, but the skies soon cleared as our experienced Capt. Anna and naturalist on board, Derrek, took the Ocean Magic along the rugged and beautiful west coast of Vancouver Island. Much wildlife frequents these picturesque coastal shores. It wasn't long before we saw a Bald Eagle, two swimming California sea lions, many sea birds and groups of migrating Bonaparte's Gulls. Several ' bait-balls ' with many local gulls foraging were also seen, indicating the abundance of fish in these waters. A visit to Race Rocks Ecological Reserve, gave us great looks at posturing and noisy Steller and California Sea Lions. On our return to Victoria we encountered some playful Dall's Porpoise that rode the bow- wake of the Ocean Magic. The porpoise stayed with us for 10 mins while our guests observed the amazing speed of these active cetaceans.They can zig-zag around at speeds of 55 km/h. These mammals are one of the fastest cetaceans in the ocean. Although we found no whales this trip we saw plenty of wildlife. With warm sunshine and relatively calm water toward the end of our trip we disembarked from the Ocean Magic with big smiles on our face. It was another exciting wildlife trip with 'Prince of Whales'.
Marie,Orca-Magic, Clint ,Orcawizard. Photographers for POW.
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