September 6th

We started off with a group of transient killer whales soon after they had made a kill, but instead of watching unpredictable "stealth predators" as they continued to forage, we were privileged to get a rare glimpse of their sociable, playful nature! We watched in amazement as the transient killer whales breached, splashed and spy-hoped for over an hour while feeding off the remains of the carcass they had in tow. As if this behaviour itself was not special enough we were also able to listen to the rare vocalizations of the transients, an opportunity that is rarely encountered (unlike frequent calls of the resident killer whales). After leaving the transients in Johnstone Strait we went in search of humpback whales though we were not quite prepared for what we found! In total we encountered 8 individual humpbacks including a couple a juveniles napping, a mother and calf foraging, and the highlight of the trip, 150+ Pacific white-sided dolphins feeding off a herring ball in the company of two humpback whales and a couple of Steller sea lions! The scene in front of us was amazing, a constant boiling mass of fins, flippers, and blubber. Truly unbelievable.