We enjoyed an amazing day of viewing Orcas, Humpback Whales++ and a Minke Whale with unbelievable sightings! What a day of contrast and colour, of quiet foraging of Orcas and then amazing lunge feeding and airborne acrobatics by Humpback Whales. Our tour this morning took us first into Weynton Passage where we enjoyed viewing Humpback Whales, it was reported that there were eight in the vicinity but with the sudden sighting of a large male Orca fin out in the Queen Charlotte Strait, we headed in that direction and met up with the A8’s who were foraging initially off Bold Head but moving steadily west, they were taking long dives and were soon off Bold Head and still heading west and a small group of Dolphins were seen amongst them. Their A-Clan vocalizations were beautiful to listen to, all the while we trailed our hydrophone while sailing quietly along. While the A30’s began making their way into Blackfish Sound from Blackney Passage where they had been foraging in a heavy flooding current with SE winds, we made our way back into Weynton Passage to better enjoy the Humpback Whales. We enjoyed some fabulous viewing of a whale lunge feeding through a herring ball with gulls galore also trying to feed from the herring ball, there were some six more whales sighted close by and everywhere it seemed throughout our tour, the blows of numerous humpback whales could be seen near and far; it was absolutely phenomenal to watch them. We began heading home with a Dall’s Porpoise riding alongside us briefly when suddenly in Pearse Passage we sighted the distinct fin of a Minke Whale surfacing nearby, identifying it as being Bolt, the same Minke Whale that we had seen in recent days and then remarkably the blow of yet another Humpback Whale was sighted just as the Minke Whale resurfaced, the dilemma then was where best to look and from which side of the boat? And so began the fabulous viewing of a whale breaching time and again into the wind, it was mesmerizing to watch as the whale breached clear out of the water while at times we observed it waving its pectoral fins high, it was a brilliant finale to an amazing tour! Also seen: Dall’s Porpoises, Pacific White-sided Dolphins, Harbour Seals, Stellar Sea Lions, Rhinoceros Auklets, Common Murres, Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels, Bald Eagles, Red-necked Phalaropes, Great Blue Herons, Belted Kingfishers, California, Mew, Herring and Glaucous-winged Gulls.
