Orcas are back!

Another wildlife extravaganza today in Queen Charlotte Strait. The morning began with a Humpback whale in front of Alert Bay, then 2 more (Houdini and her calf) a few miles further north. We then got a report of Orcas heading our way and a short while later were watching them rub on one of their few favorite rubbing beaches. In total we saw well over 20 individuals from most of the A pods. At around the same time we also saw 2 more Humpback whales! We followed along with the Orcas and had some amazing encounters. At one point A11 snagged a salmon next to the SV Tuan while her daughter A56 and great neice A73 aka Springer came in to share it with her. It was good to see this happening. We also spent some nice time with A12, (a 65 year old matriarch) and heard some beautiful whale vocalizations with our hydrophone. The sun began to shine shortly after noon and both MV Cetacea and SV Tuan broke away from the many Orcas to spend some more time with yet another Humpback whale that was lunge feeding. We also sailed and saw some huge Stellar Sea lions, schools of Herring, swarms of Krill, jumping Salmon, Harbor seals, Bald eagles, Dall's porpoises, Bonaparte's gulls, 3 Leach's Storm Petrels, 3 Parasitic Jaegers, 2 Wandering Tattlers, a Least Sandpiper, and a Partridge in a pear tree.

A12