Magic and beauty in every moment of the tour!
September 1st
Today's Sightings:
Orcas (A30's, A23's/A25's), Humpback whales, Pacific White-sided dolphins, Stellar sea lions, Black bear, Bald Eagles, Great Blue Herons, Gull species, Rhinoceros Auklets and Common Murres.
On the occasional whale watching tour, particularly when the tide is low and nutrient rich beaches have doubled in size, we get to see one of Canada's animal icons, the Black Bear. They are resourceful animals following the seasons which provide them with a varied diet. They use their long, strong claws and paws to move beach boulders and feast on the juicy crustaceans freshly exposed. A Black bear was the first animal we saw on our tour this afternoon and our guests were delighted.
The seas were smooth and the sky generously blanketed in cloud. It wasn't long before we came across our frequent resident Orca, which happened to be the same pods as yesterday. They were doing their foraging and traveling rounds, and after some time, settled down to rest. They lined up like soldiers, and graciously marched side by side in an Easterly direction. At times we could see the spontaneous splash of a dolphin surfacing nearby as though they were joining the orcas for their afternoon nap.
We passed a rock, newly speckled with Stellar sea lions, staking their claim on their piece of basalt. We can no longer keep count of the Humpback whales we see as every corner we turned, blows filled the horizon and several flukes could be viewed at the same moment. We had a special visit by a juvenile Humpback, perhaps 2 to 3 year old. Numerous bait balls were formed all around, so whales were seen lunge feeding, including Inukshuk and Monster amidst the gathering of birds.
September is a special time of year to be out on the water in Northern BC. On this first day of fall, it lived up to its stunning reputation.
Seasmoke Whale Watching photo's have been taken by Dave Jones with a telephoto lens and have been cropped.