May 16, 2024 - A round trip of nearly 100 nautical miles!
The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day for a boat ride! We loaded onto our semi-covered vessel Kula and pushed off the dock heading North. We had some interesting weather on our search today seemed like the wind was coming at us from every direction letting the guests have the full experience of both calm and rougher waters. We had fairly smooth sailing until we came around the Northern tip of Lasqueti Island, the few of us on the back viewing deck got to experience the chill of our ocean as we endured a few splashes! We were lucky the sun was shining and the winds were blowing, in no time we were dried off and back to searching! From there the Captain tucked us into the sheltered area between Texada and Lasqueti where we found our giant Steller Sea Lions! I say giant because they are the largest sea lion in the world! Females reach lengths of around 7 feet and weights of around 800 pounds. The males are where it gets impressive they get around 10 feet and can weigh up to 2800 pounds! The large male we saw is close to fully grown! From here we continued South where we spotted more of our noisy Stellers on the buoy in Halibit Bank. We stopped here to watch them fight amongst themselves for who would be king of the castle while also keeping our eyes peeled as the geography of this area makes it a whale hot spot due to the underwater hill that causes an upwelling of cold water increasing the oxygen and nutrients which the Humpbacks food then move in to dine on creating a rich feeding ground. However, we did not find anyone so we continued on. Refusing to give up hope we crossed the Strait of Georgia back home with eyes peeled. Despite the best efforts of the crew and eager guests, our whales were elusive on this tour. We made sure all our guests got vouchers to come out and give us another chance to find our whales. Everyone rebooked for Saturday and *spoiler alert* we found whales!
Enjoy the photos taken by onboard naturalist Vanessa Vereschahen.
Photos by Marine Naturalist Vanessa Vereschahen.
Steller Sea Lions lounging in the sun.
See the size difference?
Strike a pose!
A Steller Sea Lion that is going to wake up with a neck cramp.
Guess it’s comfortable.
A Gull keeping an eye on us.
Looking relaxed amongst the commotion.
Is there room for me up there?
Attempting to get space on the buoy!
Come on guys, let me up!