Transient Orcas in the afternoon! Sept 25th, 2012

With the fog lifting we headed south west of Victoria this afternoon and encountered a pod of Transient Orcas west of race Rocks!
The Transient Orcas had just been spotted south of race Rocks a while before we headed out on out 2pm tour and we caught up with them a little to the south west of race Rocks, heading west towards the Pacific Ocean. As we observed the Transient Orcas, they split up into two groups, a mother with her calf, and then two older animals. We were wondering what was happening when we suddenly spotted a Steller Sea Lion in the water nearby, obviously the reason the Orcas had split up. The next thing we knew the Steller Sea Lion appeared off the stern of our vessel swimming towards us as fast as he could. It looked like he was trying to hide from the Transient Orcas who seemed to have lost him. We watched the guy circle the boat a few times, obviously stressed and in fear. Then we spotted the Orcas again way off in the distance and the Sea Lion was safe!
On our way home we stopped at Race Rocks ecological reserve to show our guests more Sea Lions and also Seals.

Minke Whales & playful Dall's Porpoise in the morning! Sept 25th, 2012

Here are a few images from this morning's encounter with Minke Whales and very playful Dall's Porpoise!

We had fog to deal with to the south & west of Victoria this morning so we decided to go east to try and find the Minke Whales and playful Dall's Porpoise we had encountered the previous day. We headed towards Salmon Bank and hit the jackpot with at least 3 possibly 4 Minke Whales encountered. One of the Minke Whales near Cattle Point was feeding in the tide line amongst the hundreds of Sea Birds!

For the second day in a row we also encountered a large number of playful Dall's Porpoise and once again a number of them began to bow-ride our vessel:) They seem to love the Catamaran Hull design more than any of the boats and with our open deck bow, our guests get an experience that is just amazing as these robust Porpoise dart through and around the hulls at speeds up to 50kph! We also encountered the Hybrid Porpoise again today, always a thrill.

Our guests also got to see the large number of Sea Lions at Whale Rocks, many Harbor Seals and at least 200 Harbor Porpoise near Beaumont Shoals!