March 1st - A journey through the Strait of Georgia
We started our first tour of March by stopping at Entrance Island, the lighthouse that sits off the shore of Gabriola Island. We got to watch a large group of Stella Sea Lions on the rocky shores and in the water with a beautiful rainbow hanging over the ocean. After leaving our Sea Lions we continued our search for whales, heading south to the Flat Top islands at the South end of Gabriola. We saw plenty of Harbour seals hauled out on Saturnina. Saturnina was recently punched by BC Parks to become a nature reserve. This is amazing news because it means that we will get to continue watching our Harbour seals pup here, watch Bald Eagles and Great Blue Herons nesting in the trees and know that this area will forever remain untouched for wildlife.
Today’s photos were taken by Marine Naturalist Rebecca Stirling.
A gorgeous rainbow appeared behind our sealions today.
Big stretch!
The rare Owlus Plasticus.
After enjoying the seals we Made the journey across the Strait of Georgia to the mouth of the Fraser River, crossing back towards Galiano Island and then heading South to Mayne Island before looping back up through Active pass. Once inside the gulf islands we took our search north past Thetis and Pylades Islands and finally through Dodd’s narrows before stopping at Harmac to look at the California Sea lions on the log booms.
We covered a lot of ground on this trip but sadly we did not find any whales on this day, as is sometimes the case when looking for wildlife. Wildlife have their own agendas and lives and they aren’t always where we are. It’s even harder when you factor in that whales can hold their breath for over half an hr and travel at speeds of over 50km/hr, and their range is the entire west coast of BC and Washington! It takes a lot of luck to find them so it’s amazing that we have a 97% success rate on our tours.
We always want to show our guests whales so we make sure to give them a chance to come out again, this time on us. All our guests got a voucher that does not expire to come out again whenever they would like to try again.
Surf Scoters
Taking flight (Surf Scoter).
Blep!
