Two minke whales and a humpback whale

We had no sooner left the dock this morning in Alder Bay when a minke whale suddenly surfaced on the starboard side of the boat surprising us all. The whale was feeding, moving back and forth and everyone onboard S.V. Tuan enjoyed some really

nice viewing of it. At one sighting, a second minke whale could be seen feeding further to the west and then moving close along the Vancouver Island shoreline. We followed in its direction but at each of it's surfacing's, we could not get a good id photo of its dorsal fin meanwhile the minke whale that we had first sighted was identified by Jared and Christie as being Bolt. We carried on in our tour and made our way through the islands into Blackfish Sound where after much scanning, we sighted the blow of a humpback whale down near Parson's Light.  The whale was taking some 5-8 breathes between dives of 5-10 minute intervals and could often be seen at the surface lying there momentarily, one time we observed its mouth at the surface of the water, the whale was moving it's head about to feed but was not lunge feeding and there was an abundance of tiny fish seen simultaneously in the area. The whale we identified as KC (Kelp Creature), this whale is now 11 years old and was first sighted as a calf of Houdini's in 2002 and has returned to this area to feed every year since. For us, it was our first sighting of KC since last fall and a really exciting viewing for all of us. On the way home with the sun shining bright we enjoyed some viewing of several dall's porpoises feeding quietly nearby. Other sightings included: a stellar sea lion, bald Eagles fishing and sitting high in tree tops+++, harbour seals, oyster catchers, rhinoceros auklets, pigeon guillemots, 12 harlequin ducks, a black- tailed deer, a great blue heron and belted kingfishers.