Orcas: C10's, a humpback whale and a sea otter with fantastic viewing!

What an incredible afternoon that we all so enjoyed! The sun was shining, it was warm on the water and there are so many highlights to talk about including a beautiful blue sky and ocean!

We encountered the C10's, one of the pods of Northern Resident Orcas who arrived into our area yesterday morning. They were all spread out and westing near Bauza Islets. We listened in awe on our hydrophone to their A-Clan calls and it was so beautiful listening to them in this manner! We were lucky at one point to see them surface nearby surprising us all when we were not expecting to see them so close as we sat idle and drifting.

Later on in our tour we encountered a humpback whale and observed several half breaches and tail slaps. After four 10 minute long dives, it surfaced just as we were departing and a guest motioned to us all that it was breaching and tail slapping!

It could not have been any better but then we spied a Sea Otter rolling around in a kelp forest and what an incredibly exciting viewing that was. As we observed, we all became aware of the ebbing current passing us by, and noticed that the bull kelp was aligned and flowing in the direction of the rapidly moving ebbing waters. We ended our tour viewing Bald Eagles and their nests and hauled out Harbour Seals.

Sightings seen today: Northern Resident Orca's: C10's, a Humpback Whale, Bald Eagles, Harbour Seals,  Black Turn Stones, Rhinoceros Auklets, Red-Necked Phalaropes, Black Oyster Catchers, Gulls and a Sea Otter!

Please note: all photos are cropped and are taken with a telephoto lens on our blog posts.