September 19th - Transient's travelling along Valdes Island!

Today we departed from the Nanaimo Harbour on a beautiful sunny day! Before our search for whales, we stopped at Entrance Island to see the harbour seals. As usual, there were so many of them hauled out on the rocks, with a few in the waters swimming near our boats.

Harbour seals at Entrance Island, see the little pup in the middle? Photo by Alanna Vivani.

Little harbour seal pup!! Photo by Alanna Vivani.

Harbour seal swimming past our vessel. Photo by Alanna Vivani.

We began our search heading southeast towards the Gabriola Reef. We stopped for a quick visit with the steller sea lions on the buoy and while there, saw a big blow in the distance! Making our way closer and scanning for a bit, we had a humpback engaging in some shallow dives. However, not long after we heard reports of orcas right near us and heading our way, as the humpback left the area we made our way to the orcas.

Steller sea lions relaxing on a buoy. Photo by Alanna Vivani.

The transients were travelling northwest along the coast of Valdes Island, pointed towards Gabriola Reefs. As we watched them travel and mill around, we identified the group as T18 and T19s.

Two members of T18 & T19’s surfacing together. Photo by Alanna Vivani.

Dorsal fin slicing through the waters during a surface. Photo by Alanna Vivani.

During our visit, two more orcas were travelling towards us. Before we headed out, we spent a few minutes watching them surface not to o far from the three we were watching.

Big male surfaces off the coast of the Southern Gulf Islands. Photo by Alanna Vivani.

Female orca surfaces. Photo by Alanna Vivani

On our way home, we went through Gabriola Reefs and Pylades Channel where we stopped at Miami Island to see another group of harbour seals hauled out on the rocks.

Check out the drastic change in colour between the two harbour seals! Photo by Alanna Vivani

Take a look at some more shots from today’s trip below!! We’re still running tours at 11:00 am daily, you can book yours online or over the phone :)

Love seeing the blow linger as they surface. Photo by Alanna Vivani

Surfacing intervals right along the coastline. Photo by Alanna Vivani

Male surfaces, showing off his saddle patch just behind the dorsal fin - both are used for identification. Photo by Alanna Vivani