The Ocean Wakes Us Up
A lovely aspect of our tours this summer is that we have noticed an increased number of families and their children who are joining us for a whale watching tour. And while our season has been a quiet one, it has been a joy to see so many parents and their children sharing an outing on the water. Some of the children have not seen the ocean before and certainly not a whale so it has been a wonderful learning experience for them.
Eager to get underway on the tour this afternoon, amongst our passengers were two families with children of a similar age and they were especially excited to leave the dock. Glorious sunshine, sparkling waters, a light blue sky and a NW wind beckoned to us and so began for them and all of us a beautiful tour.
The current had turned to flood and was going in the direction of the wind and waves and the sea state provided us with a comfortable ride and the children loved it. But then we sighted orcas! And it was exciting that we saw them early on in our tour and were able to observe them for much of the tour along with some 6-8 Pacific White-sided dolphins in pesky play. There were two pods of orcas, they were part of the larger gathering that we had seen yesterday. We observed them foraging and travelling east in Blackfish Sound and watched while they turned and made their way back through Blackfish Sound, passing through the Blowhole and travelling back into Johnstone Strait.
The wow factor today was a surprise surfacing of a Humpback whale near the boat. Unexpected, it was quite a thrill for everyone to see its massive size, up close and personal. A second Humpback whale was seen in the distance and Stellar Sea Lions, Harbour Seals, Bald Eagles, Cassin's and Rhinoceros Auklets and Black Oystercatchers were also seen.
Our waterways are truly beautiful and cruising through many of them are for some, the highlight of the tour. In these more shallow and sheltered waters we can see long flowing bull kelp forests shimmering at the water's surface when the current is slack. And when the current turns to ebb or flood and we are looking over the side of the boat, we can see them stretching far below where the sunlight can still reach so it can almost at a passing glance, look like we are seeing gold.
The ocean wakes us up and makes us feel alive and energized. Our senses become fully engaged in the moments we are experiencing and with our eyes we see so much of nature's beauty, with our ears we listen intently to birds calling from the sea and land and there are sounds we can hear from whales, dolphins, sea lions and more besides. Inhaling great breaths of an ocean breeze is fabulous. What more can we say, it was a fantastic day!
