Written by: Megan, Naturalist
WHAT A SEASON IT HAS BEEN!!! Phew, here at Orca Spirit Adventures we feel like we’ve been running on adrenaline for the past few months because it has been absolutely PACKED with excitement! Until now we haven’t had a chance to tell you about some of the amazing things we’ve seen so I’m here to run you through July!
July is right in the middle of peak season for whale watching here in Victoria, the seas are serene, and the sun is shining! Sunscreen was essential, I think we all got through at least a bottle or two each!
Each tour has been absolutely jam packed with sightings. Our humpback whales have all come into their summer feeding grounds and we’ve had record breaking sightings of Biggs Killer Whales, there’s been tons of Harbour Porpoises and even some illusive Minke whale sightings (although typically they were all camera shy!).
Lets talk about the highlights!
Humpback whales: We have had a few favourite moments this month, One of them was our tour on July 7th where we had 5-6 humpback whales all socializing together, which led to some pretty playful behaviors!
Our favourite shot was this one of Frankenstein who was telling one of the whales to back off by throwing his tale in the air!
Another memorable moment was July 14th when one of the humpbacks launched its self out of the air! This is called Breaching and doesn’t often happen here in the Salish Sea so a super special moment!
And of course, not a season goes by where we don’t squeal with joy about our all time favourite humpback SCUTTLE Known for his distinct tail with scars from killer whales on it, scuttle always likes to put on a good show for whale watchers, on July 16th he raised his head up so we could get a good look at the barnacles around his mouth! Not something you see every day!!
Killer Whales: They aren’t everyone’s favourite apex predator for no reason! Our Killer Whales have given us quite a show in the last few months! July especially!
We’ll jump straight in at July 4th, with three pods joining up together and when they socialize we always see such excitement as can be seen here by this whale breaching with joy!
And finally you can’t talk about Killer Whales without giving a moment for the gorgeous babies! Look at this calf from the T46B pod! We saw her and her mum on July 23rd and its safe to say every passenger instantly fell in love!
I think you’ll agree it’s been a pretty good month! And of course, the fun hasn’t stopped there! We’ve seen sealions, seals, bald eagles, cormorants, and even sea otters! Take a look at some of these great shots below!
As you can see the tours here are absolutely jampacked with wildlife! We can’t wait to tell you about everything we saw in August! But why don’t you come and see it yourself? September and October are GREAT months to come whale watching, at this point in the season every one is “fat and happy” as we like to say and that makes some great encounters and animals start to get a little more playful! So come on! Book today to #experiencethewild!
