Today shortly after leaving the dock we could see many diving birds off in the distance feeding on a herring ball and hoping that we might encounter a minke whale nearby we set off to investigate. We were fortunate coming upon a minke whale as it foraged and as we sat idle in the water watching, at one point it turned and made its way towards us allowing us some viewing of its head and we could also clearly see its two blowholes. Later, travelling in Cormorant Channel we noticed a large gathering of gulls and rhinoceros auklets and soon, a frenzy as the birds began working the area and a herring ball appeared. More birds began arriving while in the distance a humpback whale suddenly appeared, it making its way towards the birds and startling everyone on board when it began lunge feeding in the midst of the feeding frenzy of birds nearby. The viewing was exciting and spectacular for those onboard who had never witnessed lunge feeding before. Three other humpback whales were in the vicinity today, all of them foraging in the heavy flood current. Other sightings included: dall’s porpoises, harbour seals in the water fishing and also hauled out, rhinoceros auklets+++, california, mew and glaucous -winged gulls, oyster catchers, white-winged scoters, red-necked phalaropes, belted kingfishers, an eaglet in the nest and bald eagles++.