Archive for September, 2009

Getting close to the end of our season

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

What a fantastic September we just had. Not only was the weather great but the southern residents were here just about every day this past month. I had some unbelievable experiences with the whales from watching two greeting ceremonies (when the pods get together after some time away from each-other), to watching L-87 (Oynx) try to formulate a plan to grab a salmon right under our boat (video coming), staying under our boat for at least ten minutes. We watched three whales break off from J pod and harass a little harbor porpoise, unfortunately until it died and we were able to direct a research vessel over to retrieve the porpoise to perform a necropsy. By the way preliminary evidence showed the porpoise was not a meal for the orca, it appeared to be a play behavior. But just watching the whales from a distance on a quiet September day is a highlight in my season.
Sightings of the resident orca will most likely decline in October as it normally does.  I am going to offer a trip to go see humpback whales near Victoria when/if the weather cooperates. I won’t be doing these trips every day but if we have calm conditions I’ll do a trip out to see the humpbacks which is a spectacular experience. For the last five or so years a number of humpback whales have been taking up residence off of Victoria to feed on krill and baitfish. There is a whale watching company out of Victoria that has been doing photo ID on the humpbacks and has seen the same whales here in the last few years. It seems the population of eastern Pacific Humpback whales is on the rebound so with their numbers rising we should see more and more in this area. The waters around here used to be feeding grounds for humpbacks until they were hunted out years ago. The humpback trips will be limited to 12 guests per trip. The trip would be about 3.5 to 4 hours.
The “other” wildlife are beginning to appear, such as Steller sea lions, Dall’s porpoises, and a host of sea birds.  At Whale Rocks the Steller population is close to 20 animals. We are also seeing Stellers at Spieden Island, a few at a time.
October wildlife and humpback trips leave Deer Harbor at 12 or 1 PM.

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September already

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

Yes, we are into our last full month of the season and I hope the whale sightings are as good as our August sightings were. This August had to be one of the best in memory. There were only about three trips where we could not find any whales.  If we didn’t have the resident orca we found transients. All and all a very good month.

Now as we go into September we can expect what has historically been a good month for sightings. It all depends on the salmon in the area, whether or not there is enough to support the pods. September has always been my favorite because of the nice weather  with less crowds and boats.

We’ll hopefully go into the middle of October and then go into our off season trips which focus on other marine mammals and wildlife. Check our website for  changes to our schedule as we go into September. After Labor Day weekend we’ll be going out from Deer Harbor only.

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