Breaching transient killer whales

(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!

SUPERPOD : evening

(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!

SUPERPOD: noon

(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.