Five for Five Star!!! July 28th, 2008.

T14 was doing a lot of kelping (playing with the bull kelp).

This picture shows just how tall the male dorsal fin of an Orca is and they can reach heights of up to 6 feet!!!!

T14 "Pender", the bolts from the radio collar can be clearly seen in this picture.

Dalls Porpoise above and Harbor Porpoise below.

The six pictures above are of the Minke Whale, found near Baumont Shoals by Fastcat:)

A Fin Whale, such as pictured above and below, was sighted in the Strait of Juan De Fuca today. For more information on these large cetaceans, which are the 2nd largest whale in the world, visit http://www.acsonline.org/factpack/finwhl.htm

Sherringham Lighthouse.

Today Five Star Whale Watching and our passengers were able to see five different species of Cetaceans (Whales, Dolphins and Porpoise), plus 4 different species of Pinnipeds (Seals and Sealions).

Our first encounter was with Jpod near Sherringham Point as the Pod of Orcas were moving west. Orcas are the largest member of the Dolphin family of Cetaceans. On our way to Jpod we heard that a Fin whale may have been sighted and sure enough on our way back to Victoria the crew of Fastcat caught a brief glimpse of this large of the Baleen Whale!

At Race Rocks we were fortunate enough to see 4 different species of Pinnipeds as we encountered harbor Seals, 3 Northern Elephant Seals, 3 Steller Sealions and a lone California Sealion:)

In the afternoon we travelled the short distance to Chatham Island to watch T14 "Pender" in search of Harbor Seals. Whilst on scene we watched Pender make a possible kill near Chatham Island and then as he made his way towards 10 mile point he repeatedly slapped his tail and even tail fluked, which was amazing behavior to observe from a Transient Orca.

We then headed into Haro Strait in search of Porpoise and not only did we find both Harbor and Dalls Porpoise, but a Minke Whale as well:) The Minke Whale, the 2nd smallest of the Baleen Whales (filter feeders that use Baleen plates to filter their food) was surfacing often and seemed very relaxed as we sat watching for several minutes. With our engines off we could even hear the whale every time it surfaced, which was very exciting.

On our way home we stopped in at the Chain Islets to see the Harbor Seal pups and also saw a number of Seagull Chicks. It was a nice way to finish what had been an magnificent day on the water!