Search This Blog

Wednesday 26 June 2013

Oh Canada Eh - Part 8 - The Whale Cruise.

After a break, it is back to blogging and more updates from Canada.

Thursday 9th May - Victoria.

Angela and myself had been looking forward to this part of the trip for a long time... the chance of seeing a Whale, something neither of us had seen in the wild.

Our intrepid group of Whale watchers departing Victoria harbour.
My camera by this stage had been nicknamed 'camo cam' by the cruise companies' personnel.
Angela is once again behind the camera.
We traveled straight out to sea while the Zodiac boat headed along the coast. Luck would have it that they would make the radio call first. A quick u-turn and a burst of speed from our captain...

And this was the sight that we saw !!!
A young male Orca (Killer Whale) moving along the coast with his mother.
What a fantastic experience !!!
Angela's photo of the male Orca as the sea mist rolled in over the coast.

The female leading the male. It was difficult to photograph the two Whales together
but Angela managed it.
While we watched the Orcas moving WNW, I managed to
snap a record shot of a pair of Rhinoceros Auklets.
With big smiles all round, the journey back involved a stop at Race Rocks - lots of wildlife sightings here too.
Angela's photo of Race Rocks, the Lighthouse and an Elephant Seal on the slipway.
A colony of Californian Sea-lions.
The lookout.
A bit of a poser this one.
Elephant Seals keeping a close eye on our boat.
Harbour Seals - completing the trio.
Back in Victoria Harbour I spotted this pair of River Otters on the rocks, viewed from our cruiser.

River Otters - we later saw these from Fisherman's Wharf -
closer but more nervous and not easy to photograph.
The fish and chips here was tasty though.
And a flypast to close the successful trip out into the Strait of Juan de Fuca.






No comments:

Post a Comment