Jordan | July 1, 2018 | M/V Kestrel | 2:00 trip
On this second trip of the day, we were really lucky that it stopped raining and the sun came out! Captain Mike and I were happy to hear of whales up in Canada, so we sped off north. We wound through Canadian islands until we hit Vancouver Island, then headed north along the west side of Salt Spring Island.
And then we found a pod of whales! We recognized them as the T65As! As one of my favorite pods, they have a tiny baby who is only a few months old! They also have a huge male whale, T65A2 who serves as a great example for the youngsters. We were just watching them travel when suddenly, they found something! They all dove down towards the same spot underwater, tossing and turning at the surface and then disappeared from sight. But a few minutes later, the whales surfaced a distance away and there were no signs of eating. Their prey most likely was able to escape. It was all very exciting to watch!
When we had to return home, we stopped by Spieden Island where we saw mouflon sheep! There were mothers and their little babies and big males with swirly horns! We also saw mounds of seals perching on what little rocky shore Spieden has. They seemed especially lazy today, hardly moving at all and really working that camouflage action.
Then we zipped on over to O’Neal Island and saw some of the coolest bald eagles I’ve ever seen! There was one bald eagle being chased in flight by tiny birds, another bald eagle perching in the trees above their massive nest and a third, juvenile, bald eagle sitting next to his mother.
So much animal action today!