Baby Season

Our trip yesterday was truly a spring trip. We took our guests to Speiden Island where they saw Mouflon sheep and their lambs frolicking on the hillside. We also saw what appeared to be some Harbor Seal pups lounging on the rocks at a distance. However, the highlight of this "baby trip" was the Dall's Porpoise and her calf that we observed in the Haro Strait off Turn Point. Dall's reach sexual maturity at around 7 - 8 years of age. Their gestation period is about one year and calves are 3.5 feet long and weigh about 55lbs at birth. Calves are generally born in the summer, with some occurring in the spring. Being a mammal, they nurse their calves. However, unlike people (or most people), they nurse their calves for around two years. The Dall's we saw were pretty active, but not in an overly playful mood as they did not come in to ride the bow. (This is likely due to the calf that was traveling with them.)

We did receive a report of Transient Orcas hunting off Victoria, however they were two hours from our location by sea when we got the news. Unfortunately, we could not make it to them given the vast distance between us. Our guests were better for it because we found out that the water was extremely choppy where they were hunting with over 8ft swells. Either way, our trip gave us a great opportunity to see porpoise calves, lambs, Bald Eagles, and even some Steller Sea Lions hunting off Green Point.

Today is another beautiful day on the island and we look forward to another wildlife trip this afternoon.