May 26th 3:30 PM - Strolling around the Salish Sea

On the afternoon of May 26th our boat left the harbour looking for whales. We weren’t able to head north to find our morning group as they had gotten a little too far for us in their travels, so instead, we cruised down through the Gulf Islands. The waters were flat and calm and the sun was poking out from the clouds from time to time, giving us perfect conditions as we scouted for whales.

We travelled out to the Strait of Georgia, circling out of Porlier Pass looking for any signs of whales with no luck. We got word of a humpback spotted near the Tswassen ferry terminal south of Vancouver, so we made our way over to check for the whale.

We got to the reported sighting and stopped the boat to see what there was, but sadly no whale surfaced. We waited a while longer but after a bit, we decided to head north and look elsewhere. We travelled through the Strait, stopping at a buoy off the Flat Top Islands to see some Steller sea lions piled atop it, and then cruised over to the Flat Tops to look for seals. The tide was high, and it seemed the seals had other plans, so into the islands we went to look for whales and seals at another known hangout for them.

With the high tides, seals were very difficult to find and no luck on the whales either, we went back through Dodd Narrows, stopping at Harmac to look for our California sea lions that are known to hang out on the logs. As we approached the logs we could see one lone California sea lion male holding his head high. Just as we stopped the boat and began to get ready to take his photo, he lumbered to the edge of his log, and as slowly as physically possible, he stuck his head in the water, paused, and then with the grace of a banana slug, slipped below the surface. The sea lions weren’t in the mood today either it seemed.

We want all of our guests to leave happy, with memories of whales, sadly the whales don’t always comply with this. So our guests got vouchers today, which will allow them to return whenever they can for a chance to see whales on us. Hopefully next time our wildlife cooperate a little bit more.

Here are some photos of the Steller sea lions we were able to find during the trip, taken by marine naturalist Rebeka Pirker