Sunday, July 18, 2010

Whale Watching!

I spent the day with my family whale watching with Prince of Whales, a local company here in Victoria, B.C. The weather was perfect and the water was calm. The on board naturalists were Rhonda & Mika. They are a part of the great team that explain and teach us about the wildlife and of course keep us safe on the water. We started out at 3:30 pm out into the Strait of Juan de Fuca (which is now part of the Salish Sea) and headed for the San Juan Islands. At the time of departure there was a lone grey whale near Oak Bay but while in transit our friendly guides heard over the radio that the Killer Whales were in Vancouver and heading our way! We found them in the Strait of Georgia (that's between Vancouver/Tsawwassen and the start of the Gulf Islands (Canada) and San Juan Islands (USA) also a part of the Salish Sea). We were told that we going to be late getting back to Victoria (oh rats!) but there were no complaints on that boat!

As we motored along in search of our whales we passed by this island with Tipi along the shore line. It turns out it's a summer camp for kids! How cool is that?!? For a brief moment I was wanting to be a kid again and camp there. But, like I said "for a brief moment" common sense took hold and all is well with the world again ;-)

It was a very enjoyable 3 hour trip and I would recommend this company to anyone wanting to go out for a real west coast adventure! They also have zodiac's for the thrill of it all and who knows, maybe the whales will be curious about the boats and come by for a closer look.

I hope my pictures will give you a sense of how big and majestic these mammals are and the feeling like you were there with me having a blast!

Ruffles J1 pod (we met him in 1990)

Ruffles and younger calf

Coming up!
Young one slapping its tail

Gathering. Could have J & L pod in the mix...


Spy Hop. Basically checking us out.


Breach! Must feel good on the back...




Tipi for the summer campers... Beautiful spot!




When we arrived back into the inner harbour, there were these musicians doing their thing on a yacht. Welcome to Victoria folks!!

3 comments:

  1. post didn't post......let's try again. Very cool photos Pat. So glad you could get "out there". Amazing creatures. --rc--

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your pictures are so beautiful! I would someday love a chance to get up there to see whales and the beautiful NW coast!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks Richard and Annette. It was a great day to be out there and the whales blessed us with their presence... Tough to get a closer shot as the boats can not chase the whales around, only hope that the whales come closer which they did a little ;-)

    ReplyDelete