Transient Orcas & Humpbacks

This morning's trip was fantastic. The straits were flat calm, a little bit misty and a little bit sunny as well. We had a beautiful encounter with a cow and calf humpback whale. They were surfacing frequently off of our port side and then turned and swam towards us. We had an excellent viewing of the mother's huge tail and were then able to recognize her as Houdini aka BCX0022; one of our resident Humpbacks. About a mile away from us at this time were 2 male transient Orcas that we couldn't identify. We followed them through the open water of central Queen Charlotte Strait as they cruised along slowly. 1 of them had its large dorsal fin bent right over while the other's dorsal fin was a little bit crooked as well. After spending 20 years of encountering all 3 eco-types of killer whales in these waters it was very exciting for us to see these animals here as we may never see them again. On the way back we had a brief encounter with a few Dall's porpoises which seemed like a great way to end the trip. Our second trip of the day proved to be one of those amazing sail with the whales trips that we are famous for. We were underway for some time before catching up with a couple Humpback whales but when we did we hoisted the mainsail, shut down the engine, and sailed gently along with them in the light winds. The very small calf Humpback was playing on the surface for our whole encounter. It would roll around in the water giving us great views of its pectoral fins and tail and while doing so was moving a floating log around like a play toy. The large mother Humpback was nearby also moving around at ease and every so often would lift her huge tail into the air while going on a deep dive. Quite the day. We also saw plenty of birdlife today including 3 Cassin's Auklet chicks.

Transient Orca