It was one of those days where we searched and searched and got to explore the breathtaking views that the Salish Sea has to offer! We left the Harbour with our eyes peeled, as that’s how we find our whales! None of them are tagged or chipped so we find them just with our eyes, and always have help from our sharp-eyed guests!

The search began in the Strait of Georgia as we headed East toward the Sunshine Coast, with no blows in sight we decided to search closer to shore along Valdes Island and Galiano Island. It was not long until we heard the iconic high-pitched call of one of our majestic Bald Eagles, spring must be in the air as we were able to spot several pairs! Soon after spotting them, we could see why the Eagles were hanging around, there was a buffet, and we spotted hundreds of Cormorants and other birds feeding nearby. We also spotted some of our adorable “Rock Sausages”, better known as the Harbor Seal, looking just as cute as ever on the rocks! Shortly after that, we could hear the tell-tale growls of the Steller Sea Lions. Then we could smell them, not as exciting as it can be a little putread downwind, but it’s all part of the experience! So we held our noses and watched the antics as our Stellers’ neck sparred, grumbled and pushed each other off the prime spots on the rocks!

With no whale luck on the outside, we shot through Active Pass to search inside the Golf Islands. Back North towards Nanaimo, we went! It is always such a treat to explore the Islands, even when the Whales are not there the scenery keeps your attention! Finally, a report came in an Orca had been spotted from land close to Ballenas Islands. Throttle down we were off, through Dodd Narrows passed Nanaimo Harbour and back North into the Strait of Georgia. Getting close to Ballenas we slowed and began scanning for fins. We spotted one! Our onboard Naturalist got the camera out and quickly started snapping pictures of the dorsal fin to get identification on our Orca. It was Jpod members of the Southern Resident Killer Whales. We had to leave our friends to their travels as we do not watch the SRKW population as they are critically endangered, only 74 of them remain in the wild. However, because our boat was able to identify them as the SRKW our Captain was able to notify our military which test torpedos in the area and they shut it down early that day to let them pass through! Because we do not watch our SRKW all our guests got vouchers to come out with us again! This time fingers crossed we find our Transient population! Although frustrating, it is such a beautiful part of the job that our Whales are free and do what they want when they want!

Enjoy photos from the tour taken by Marine Naturalist Vanessa Vereschahen.