Humpback Whales Aug 9, 2007

Above and below are pictured a Mother and Pup harbor Seals.

The pictures above show the Sealions lounging around on the Rocks at Race Rocks Ecological Researve.

Humpback Lunge Feeding.

Today we had at least 3 Humpbacks in the Juan De Fuca Strait and our passengers had an incredible time watching these large Whales. In the morning a Humpback was first sighted between Beachy Head and Race Rocks. Our passengers saw a number of Tail Flukes as the Whale began a deep dive but the highlight of the trip was a full breach just over 100 metres from the boat, it was amazing!!!

In the afternoon and especially the evening one Humpback in particular was being very active. During our evening trip we saw a lot of incredible lunge feeding by the Humpback and had some amazing passes by the animal close to the boat (just over 100 metres away)! It was a breathtaking spectacle for all on board.

We also travelled to Race Rocks Ecological Reserve and saw an Elephant Seal hauled out on the rocks, plus several Stellar and California Sealions including one animal with a tag number on it. Scientists have tagged some Sealions so that they can discover how far they travel from their traditional breading grounds. I will be sending the picture of this animal to local Marine Mammal Researcher Ron Bates, so that he can pass it on to the scientists.

After spending some more time with the 2 of the Humpbacks we headed to the Chain Islands Ecological Reserve where we saw several Seals and Pups, a large number of Harlequin Ducks, and Cormorants.

As we returned to Victoria we were met with another famous stunning Pacific Coast sunset!