Friday, April 24, 2015

April 14th - Transient Orcas

April 14th – Transient Orcas (TO49A’s) near James Island!

Transient Orcas
Transient Orcas
Today was another epic day when we found Transient Orcas, the TO49A’s, at the south end of James Island :) There had been a report of Orcas heard on the hydrophones at Orcasound early in the morning but despite a few boats searching there had been no sight of them. We headed out and decided to concentrate our search around Darcy, Sidney, & Mandarte Island, playing a hunch that the Orcas may be somewhere in that area. Thankfully our hunch paid off as we found the T49A’s at the South East corner of James Island :) The Orcas were in a very sleepy mood slowly moving north up Sidney Channel. At one stage we even saw a Sea Lion swim past the sleepy Orcas who obviously were not hungry, lucky for the Sea Lions! The Orcas continued north following the eastern shoreline of James Island. Our guests were so thrilled that we had found these Transient Orcas and so were we.
We also encountered Steller Sea Lions (the largest Sea Lions in the world) at Kelp Reef. We also visited the Bird Colony at Mandarte Island as well as Harbor Seals at the Chain Islets. On our way home the wind had picked up and our guests enjoyed a lively ride across the waterfront where we got to witness some high flying Kite Boarders!
You can see more images from this epic trip by clicking on the link below;
April 14th – Transient Orcas near James Island

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