It was a sunny and warm day in Victoria. We headed out of the harbour in search of whales.
Morning Tours
The challenge today was a fog bank to the South that threatened to reduce our views should we venture into it. Captain Marty navigated the waters expertly. He was the first in the fleet of boats searching the Salish Sea to find a Humpback Whale, not too far from the Victoria Harbour either. As we watched the humpback the fog lifted and we had great views of the whale with the Vancouver Island and Washington, USA coasts in the background.
We then ventured a little further south towards Race Rocks Lighthouse and Ecological Reserve. There we saw some cute harbour seals on the rocks.
Afternoon Tours
The sun was shining brightly in the afternoon. Captain Marty brought us back to the location of the humpback from the morning in hopes it had stuck around. While sometimes these animals travel and move quite quickly, they may also hang around one spot over a day or two if the feeding is good. We were in luck. The humpback surfaced very near to where we had seen it in the morning. The humpback whale was making a series of short dives and then came over closer to us. It was an amazing moment to see the largeness of the animal and hear the powerful exhale at the surface. We could even smell it’s breath up on the front of the boat. It was a combination of fishy and stinky!
After checking out the humpback whale we headed towards Race Rocks Ecological Reserve. There we saw a juvenile bald eagle, some seals and some sea lions.
The highlight was the elephant seal that was climbing up the rocks. Its blubber jiggled as the massive animal moved quite quickly up the hill.
For more photos from today’s tours check out our Facebook album here.