Humpback Whales, Dall's Porpoise and Sealions! Sept 30th, 2009.

Kelping Humpback Whale

Bait Ball, you can see the small Bait fish glimmering in the water and the large fish feeding on them!

Here are images from the final tour of September and it was another very special trip, continuing the excellent success we had throughout September!

Our tour started with an exciting encounter with a group of Dall's Porpoise just off Victoria and these Dall's were being very playful. Next we encountered a very large bait ball and as we got closer we could see the bait fish ball being herded by larger fish, possibly Salmon.

Next we headed towards William Head where we encountered one of two Humpback Whales during our tour today. This Humpback was the mother of the second Humpback we would encounter later in our tour.

After watching this Humpback move lazily through the water (probably digesting a large amount of fish), we ventured to Race Rocks. Here we saw the increasingly large number of both Steller and California Sealions as well as several Harbor Seals. The stench and noise at Race Rocks is now beyond words!

We then headed back towards Victoria and on our way encountered another Humpback, this time a 3 year old who's Mother we had seen earlier. This particular Humpback Whale has been hanging out near Victoria for over 2 weeks now and is a very playful Humpback. Today we watched as it played with Bull Kelp very close to the boat (just over 100 yards away).

So ended another memorable day on the water and the perfect trip to end the month of September:)

J & L-pod in the morning! Sept 28th, 2009.

Above and below, Orca chasing Salmon!

Orca head about to break the surface!

Cruise ships at Ogden Point.

Dalls Porpoise

Mother and Calf

J1 "Ruffles"

Here are more images from this mornings encounter with members of J & L-pod pff San Juan Island!

Resident Orcas all day! Sept 28th, 2009.

The photo's above were taken by Ron Bates, MMRG, from todays encounters with the Southern Resident Orcas!

Our encounters began early with an 8.30am tour and we caught up with the Orcas off the West side of San Juan Island. We were the first and only boat on scene for the entire tour, one of the best aspects of tours in late September/early October. The Orcas were spread over a large area in foraging mode (hunting for Salmon) but we soon identified members of both L & J-pod. We did see a couple of breaches, tail slaps and spyhops whilst watching the Orcas.

In the afternoon the Residents had moved South West and perhaps on their way to the open ocean for a day or so, we will have to wait and see what tomorrow brings!

Apart from the Orcas we also encountered Dall's Porpoise and Harbor Seals.