Thursday, October 14, 2010

Transient Orcas and the Gray Whale off Victoria! Oct 12th, 2010
















Here are a few images from our afternoon encounter with the Gray Whale and Transient Humpbacks including the T2's! We also encountered Humpback Whales, see the post below.

We headed out this afternoon in calm seas and beautiful weather and were soon on scene with the Gray Whale that has been hanging around the Victoria/Oak Bay area since late June! The Gray Whale was near the north end of Trial Island when we first spotted its blow but then moved along the West side of the island.

After watching the Gray Whale for a while we made our way towards Race Rocks MPA and on our way we encountered several Transient (Marine Mammal eaters) Orcas, including the T2 family group (pod). AT first the Orcas were in a resting mode, tightly spaced and coming to the surface together. However, after a while we saw a female make a large Spyhop and then we saw signs of foraging by the Orcas. We believe they were training the youngster in the pod how to make a kill as we did see a small Seal briefly nearby.

We left the Orcas heading South East towards Dungeness Spit!

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