MORNING TOURS
The waters were flat and calm as we headed out into the Salish Sea. The clouds hung low which provided a nice barrier to the sun’s glare and made for perfect spotting conditions. This was proved when we spotted a faint blow in the distance. The sighting got us all scratching our heads over what the animal was: the blow was faint yet the dorsal small. It turned out to be a small Humpback whale which made sense that its blow was a little less powerful than the fully grown adults.
This little one has been hanging around for a few days now but this morning was the first time we saw its tail flick up into the air. From our southerly position we moved to the East. Around Dungeness Spit area we caught up with another species of whale: Transient Killer whales. It was the family group known as the T137s, a matriarch with her three offspring. Her oldest was a very large male with two distinct notches in his dorsal fin. The mum and two younger ones traveled in front of the 17 year old “teenager” male dragging his heels behind them, some things never change no matter the species! A beautiful morning tour with two species of whale.
AFTERNOON TOURS
After successfully viewing whales on our morning tour, we were very keen to emulate the same again. We traveled south to the Canadian/U.S. border and were soon with the family pod of Killer Whales T137s. Just like in the morning, they were still travelling with purpose to the West.
We mirrored their movement and watched their group dynamics, the big male still bringing up the rear. After the Transient Killer Whale viewing, we were lucky enough to come across a Humpback whale a little bit further East. It was travelling pretty fast and it exhaled with gusto! The afternoon drew to a close and as the Marauder IV drew into Victoria harbor all on-board had big smiles after seeing both a Humpback whale and Killer Whales.
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