March 10th - Wild Goose Chase and a lot of eagles!
On the 10th our open boat Cascadia left the harbour, stopping first at Entrance Island to see some sea lions. When we arrived there were a few very large males on the west side of the island who quickly decided to jump in the water. We circled around to find a large group of females and males splashing about in the water with some harbour seals nestled on the rocks.
The sea lions seemed fascinated by the boat, at first swimming past us one direction before the group turned around to follow where we were headed. They repeatedly popped their heads above the waves, watching us floating along. They seemed very curious, but kept a healthy distance. They started splashing and leaping from the water, clearly enjoying the day.
After departing our furry friends we headed north towards the middle of the Strait of Georgia, scanning for whales. We soon got word that a pod of Orcas was heading south near Denman Island. It’s quite the journey to reach that far north so we headed over as quick as possible. When we arrived we were greeted by calm waters and some sea lions swimming through the channel, but sadly no Orcas. Orca’s can travel incredibly fast, and often change directions, so sometimes we aren’t able to locate whales from a shore report.
After waiting a while and admiring the beautiful mountains we began our trip back, keeping our eyes open and hopeful that we would find our whales.
Near the Bellenas Islands we saw a large group of birds circling and diving. The Herring are in full Spawn at the moment so it was likely they were feeding on herring. As we got closer we could see this was a rather large group of bald eagles! These birds are a common sight on our tours, but usually in small groups no more than 4. Seeing well over a dozen large eagles, some adults some juveniles, all divings at the water and circling above was quite the site.
We continued on through the islands, stopping once more near the Harmac Pulp Mill to see the California Sea lions before we returned to harbour. Unfortunately no whales were found today, as sometimes happens. But we stayed hopefull the whole trip, and got to enjoy beautiful scenery and other very cool wildlife along the way.
Not every trip can have whales, but every trip is still breathtaking and amazing non the less.
Big male Stellers sea lion on entrance island.
Some harbour seals in the waters off entrance island.
A whole gang of stellers sealions in the waters off entrance! Look how they’re checking out the boat.
Showing off some acrobatic skills.
Some small harbour seals hauled out on the rocks. Can you also spot the turnstones?
This steller sea lion was watching the harbour seals just like us!
Some shorebirds living up to their name on the shores of entrance island.
More cute little harbour seals!
One of the many bald eagles around the Winchelsea Islands off Nanoose Bay.
Another Bald eagle enjoying the herring run.
A very noisy California sea lion.
A curious sea lion was checking us out from the water.
One last roar from our big Steller sea lion!