My favorite trip of the year so far.
Flat, calm, no wind, beautiful lighting, and thanks to the hockey game we were the only boat sitting off of Sidney Island with a pod of 5 transient orcas. There was one big male, one calf, one other juvenile and a couple of larger adults (at least one was a mom). They were swimming south, taking five minute dives, with long surface intervals when their behavior changed drastically. They dove and then surfaced inshore of where they were, disrupting a noisy, congregating group of birds. They milled at the surface for a few minutes and then turned and went back past us to where they originally were and proceeded to spend the next 40 minutes or so just milling. There was lots of rolling around at the surface, diving sideways, and at one point one of the adult females lifted the calf out of the water on her nose.
We watched, stunned, with the engines off as the pod swam in circles, brushing up against one another, porpoising and rolling. Then two of the whales split away from the circle and things got a little bit strange. It was as if someone had just sped up the merry-go-round. The circling behavior continued, but more aggressively, with splashing, and speedy dives. Finally I figured out what was going on. A little harbor seal surfaced in the midst of the chaos. I was expecting a quick kill followed by a pool of blood, but instead the whales continued to circle the poor little seal for the next 10 minutes. He frantically looked up, then down, then back up as the whales continued to toy with him. The calf was apparently getting a little hunting lesson as he mimicked the adults behaviors to the tee.
Finally we had to break away and head for home. It was tough to leave and we continued to watch for as long as we could as we pulled away. We saw the little guy breach and then they were out of sight. It was a beautiful evening with amazing whales.
Laura, naturalist