Morning Tours
We headed out of the harbour and east past Trial and Discovery Island, towards San Juan where they was a report of Transient Killer Whales (Orcas). The tip off proved fruitful and the animals were travelling off the coastline of the Island. Their behaviour was unpredictable and after observing them and deducing they must be traveling south they did a 180° and moved at pace in a circle, some of the younger whales were splashing their tails.
It looked like the pod consisted of mothers and calves so the playful and random behaviour may have been part of a mini whale training academy. Just as we decided to turn and head for home, they gave us the best send off a whale watcher could ask for: breaching, flopping on their sides, tail lobbing. It was as if they didn’t want us to leave! We made a pit stop at Discovery Island on our way back west and saw a graceful Bald Eagle skimming the treetops and plenty of Harbour Seals lazing in the channel between Discovery and Chatham.
Afternoon Tours
Our plan for the afternoon consisted of heading East and North. We traced the coastline up towards Sidney and passed a beautiful sea bird colony, Gulls and Cormorants perched on a lone rock in the middle of the sea.
We turned and decided to travel south down the Haro Strait, scanning the deep shipping lanes for some deep diving whales. Before getting back to Victoria we stopped off at Discovery Island. Like the morning, the eagles and Harbour Seals were there to welcome us, displaying that there is always something to see out in the Salish Sea.
