On Sunday morning, we skirted around the coastline of Metchosin, peeling around William Head to face the Pacific Ocean. We passed Beechy Head on the point of East Sooke Regional Park and continued our venture west and found just what we were looking for: a Killer Whale. It was our trusty friend T77A again, the lone male Orca.
We watched him zigzag his way towards the mouth of the open ocean. Great to see the same animal we witnessed only yesterday afternoon. We spun the boat around and on the same latitude, about 4 nautical miles East, we were lucky enough to find another species of whale! A Humpback Whale was diving and while we were watching another animal’s blow was visible in the distance. A two-whale species kind of morning!
In the afternoon we traveled South finding ourselves just opposite the USA town of Port Angeles. There was a little drizzle in the air but we welcomed the rain as it’s a key element for growth in nature, plus the animals we were looking for are waterproof.
We found two family pods of Transient Killer Whales travelling together. It was the T34s and the T36s. They surfaced and dived in two groups, one slightly further in front of the other. A great sight was that of a calf energetically surfacing beside its mother. They continued in an Easterly direction and we mirrored the families before we had to start making tracks for Victoria. We have been seeing the T34s and T36s quite often this summer. It’s a real treat to be able to grow an understanding for a particular group of these animals: their compositions, common behaviors, travel patterns. We do hope to see them again soon!
Check out our Facebook album for more photos from today’s tours.