Where's the pot of gold?

We saw whales!! And more than one species! In San Juan Channel we found a small Minke whale moving southbound. Minkes are a small baleen whale, filter feeding on small schooling fish....typically no larger than 30 feet in length. This little one, must be a young one, it was probably no longer than 20 feet, although they are hard to judge in size when they surface. Interesting that this little guy or gal was in the channel, we more commonly see them out at Salmon or Hein Bank, or at least somewhere near Cattle Pass. Very cool though and some great looks! Also saw a few Harbor Porpoise while we were waiting for the Minke to re-surface after a longer dive.

Off into Canadian waters near Moresby Island we met up with a group of 4 Transient Orcas. According to Soundwatch it is believed these were with a larger group of Ts seen around Nanaimo yesterday! That means they really have travelled quite a distance...maybe 60 miles or so! They were somewhat elusive....changing direction frequently but still milling about in the general area. It was not unusual for this pod to take a few shallow dives, surfacing over the coarse of a few minutes, then be down for 5-10 minutes and have done a 180 degree turn and surface over 1/4 mile away! We think it may have been the T124As....mom with her 3 calves.

Scouting for Bald Eagles on the way back in...no luck...but lots of Harbor Seals swimming and lounging about. The Minke was still in the channel, judging by the other whale watching boat and research boat in the vicinity.

To top it off a brief rain cloud passed overhead, a nice rain shower followed by a beautiful rainbow! The end touching down somewhere in the water! Now all we need is the pot of gold!

-Jaclyn Van Bourgondien, naturalist