A wonderful day of viewing orcas (A11's), dolphins, dalls porpoise, humpback whales, stellar sea lions and seabirds galore!

IMG_6022 IMG_5974 IMG_5958 IMG_5964 IMG_6034 IMG_5960 IMG_5938 IMG_5915 IMG_5893 IMG_5883 IMG_5879 IMG_5858 IMG_5810 IMG_5796 IMG_5778 IMG_5773 IMG_5755 IMG_5752It was a fantastic day with so many cetacean sightings! It was incredible, we began our tour with an early sighting of orcas, the A11's who were spread out at the top end of Blackfish Sound. Simultaneously at that first sighting, we also observed a black-tailed deer grazing up on an island close to where a small group of the A11's (A35, A90 and A77) were passing close to one of the Plumper Islands. We watched as the A11's in their small matriline groups slowly made their way east against the ebbing current, A35, A90 and A77 turned back briefly to forage and then carried on. We watched as all of the A11's made their way crossing over towards the Hanson Island shoreline which they hugged, while resting, all the way into Blackney Passage and then, in the same fashion began making their way into Johnstone Strait, still travelling close along the Hanson Island shoreline but now headed to the west! But there was so much else going on, pacific white-sided dolphins were feeding and interacting with the orcas and the orcas were taking long dives in their presence! The dolphins joined us briefly at the bow of our boat and later a small group of dall's porpoise did the same. It was fabulous for our passengers to see them at close range and to see the difference between the two species. Hundreds of gulls, common murres and rhinoceros auklets++ had gathered, all feeding on herring (their scales were seen floating by as well we could see a dense mass of herring was just under the surface of the water), we had also seen three humpback whales in the near vicinity. On our way to view one of the humpback whales, we saw two stellar sea lions, one was feeding on salmon and we watched as it devoured several salmon in moments, as gulls hovered too close for comfort to its gaping mouth! Our timing with the humpback whale was brilliant and we so enjoyed some superb viewing of it! What a day, we headed home in the company of the A11's as they too travelled to the west and then we parted company. The colour of the sky and water was breathtaking, brilliant and blue, it was so beautiful to see!

Today's penned comments: "We had a great trip! We saw lots of dolphins, orcas and birds. We even saw a sea lion and humpback whale. The muffins and scones were delicious and you were lovely!  Thank you so much!" love, Monique and Annick, the Netherlands.

Again a great trip from our friend Lo. Thanks for giving us a great day out on the water! Michel, Ellen & Jesse, Netherlands

"Thank you very much for that lovely trip. Seeing so many different species we never expected plus the superb service on board made it an extraordinary experience. Barbara, Kristin, Isabelle and Lewie, Germany

What a fantastic trip! So much wildlife on the water. Knowledgeable guides made the trip interesting and added to our amazement of the marine life. Great job! Candice, Allan, Adriana and Dylan, BC

** Please note, many of the photo's posted have been cropped to enable better visual viewing.