Rain Doesn't Keep the Whales Away!

Guests departed the Alert Bay dock under a light drizzle today, and cruised over to Alder Bay Resort to pick up more passengers on very calm seas. But it wasn’t just the MV Seasmoke out on the water today - Orca were out in groups in Johnstone Strait at Cracroft Point - the same groups that were sighted yesterday afternoon: local I11’s and I15’s. This tells us the salmon are here!

Humpbacks just seemed to be everywhere! There were two observed at Cracroft Point and two in Weynton Passage. Six were sighted at Egeria Shoal and two near Orcalab, Hanson Island. One at the Point was seen circling around a large bait ball. Such a treat for our guests to see these mammoth whales in action - foraging for small fish in a variety of places and showing off their magnificent flukes as they take that long dive, into the deep where they stay for several minutes before re-surfacing for a breath of air.

Other finned swimmers included the Dall’s porpoise, that unlike the sedate Humpbacks are very small and quick and certainly as entertaining to watch. And how wonderful to observe Bald eagles perched high above in their lofty nests, surveying their kingdoms and guarding the juveniles intent on learning to fly.

Cracroft Point played host to a number of waterfowl: the Common Mure, Red Necked Phalarope and Rhinoceros Auklet. Black Oystercatchers were seen roaming the rocks of the Stephanson group of islands.

Guests returned slightly soggy but delighted with all the wildlife they viewed - a gray day that turned out to be delightful!

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