August 25th

Our tour today was wonderful, from beginning to end! Shortly after leaving the dock this afternoon a large Black Bear moving boulders in search of food was sighted along the Vancouver Island shoreline, a second bear was sighted shortly after on another beach, it to was busy foraging amongst boulders while the tide was low. It was a great start to the tour. As we neared Cracroft Point in Johnstone Strait, the A30 pod, a family of nine orcas were sighted, they were well spread out, foraging for salmon. As wind conditions were perfect, the main sail was hoisted and passengers enjoyed the blissful experience of sailing with the orcas. It was wonderful being able to listen to the A-Clan calls of the A30's via the hydrophone as it trailed along behind the boat as we sailed. It was later on in the tour at Weynton Passage that we witnessed the parade of incoming pods of orcas re-entering Johnstone Strait, the I31's, I15's and A36's. The first orca that made it into the Strait was A32, his A-Clan vocal could be heard as he entered, he was well ahead of the other groups of orcas who were spread out behind him in Weynton Passage. What a powerfully awesome sight it was to see so many orcas surging forth in various directions. As they moved further east in Johnstone Strait we continued our tour viewing some 25 plus hauled-out Stellar Sea Lions. It was on our way home that we were joined briefly by a small group of bow-riding Dall's Porpoises.