Delighted passengers at the end of our wonderful final tour of 2009!
An almost full moon on Halloween, spooky:0
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!We set out this afternoon at 2.00pm on the final tour of the 2009 season, not knowing what an adventure awaited! No reports of any whale sightings had been made so far, despite other boats being out on the water. However, we headed out confident that we would find our passengers some spectacular Marine Life and we did just that.
Our first encounter not long after leaving the harbour, was with a young Harbor Seal Pup feeding on a large bait ball. We could see the large ball of schooling fish glittering near the surface as it went by the boat and hundreds of sea birds gorging themselves. Nearby we saw another bait ball and here we encountered a young Steller Sealion, a nice start to the trip.
Our next encounter was with Dall's Porpoise that were eager to play in the bow wave of our boat, much to the delight of our passengers. It is amazing to look down to your feet whilst stood on the bow of our High Speed Catamarans and see these amazing Cetaceans swimming directly below:)
We then ventured over to Race Rocks Marine Protected Area and just as we got there we spotted a number of blows and dorsal fins including a very large dorsal fin. Amazingly we had found the T49's along with a large male Transient Orca, T103:) We watched in awe as these apex predator made a kill and then began to feed. A young calf could actually be seen with the remains of the kill in the mouth, breathtaking! We continued to sit with our engines off as the T49's and T103 went back and forth around Race Rocks.
After watching the Transient Orcas head West we then headed to Race Rocks to show our guests the Harbor Seals, plus Steller and California Sealions that stay here throughout the winter. The noise of undreds of Pinnipeds was almost deafening and the smell over powering and something you need to experience to understand.
And so ended our final trip of the 2009 season and what a way to end another incredible season with one of the best trips of the year. As I went back through my records I realized my first Orca encounter of the season was with the T49's so how fitting that the final one of the season would also be with the T49's. Proof once again that Nature is both marvelous and intoxicating! For me, there could not have been a better Halloween treat:)
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