Resident & Bigg's (Transient) orcas, minke & humpback whales today!

It was a busy day for cetacean sightings in the area beginning with orcas passing by in front of the Government Dock in Alert Bay at 7.55 a.m. this morning. Glimpsed briefly, the four orcas had soon

disappeared and were ahead of our leaving the dock and moving quickly with the flooding current. Underway on tour we scanned down Johnstone Strait into Weynton Passage and out Pearse Passage sighting small groups of dall's

porpoises along the way and also a minke whale in Pearse Passage. A group of orcas had also been reported spread out and foraging in the Queen Charlotte Strait earlier this morning as well. As it turned out, it appears that the Resident Orcas A23's/25's (A5's) made their way in through Weynton Passage on the flooding current and crossing Johnstone Strait they were sighted traveling east of Blinkhorn, close along the Vancouver Island shoreline. We watched as they made their way further east at Izumi Rock heading towards the Robson Bight Ecological Reserve. Meanwhile the orcas passing Alert Bay this morning we believe were Biggs (Transient) Orcas later identified as being the T101's (4 orcas) and they were sighted traveling along the Hanson Island shoreline making their way into Blackney Passage. We observed them  swimming against the heavy flooding current making their way very slowly, at the same time three humpback whales were also in the vicinity of Blackney Passage. The T101's eventually turned back and we lost sight of the humpback whales but up in Weynton Passage on our way home, there were two more humpback whales!  It was an amazing day, busy with sightings that also included a stellar sea-lion, dall's porpoises ++, rhinoceros auklets, red-necked phalaropes and bald eagles fishing on herring balls and in the trees, glaucous and herring gulls.