Captain’s Blog

J-Pod Southern Resident Orcas

August 18, 2018

We set out this morning with high hopes of finding whales and discovering other surprises in the process. We received a report that one of the Southern Resident pods known as J-pod was inbound from the open Pacific! It was a long run, but worth it because we came across ALL of J-pod near Sooke! […]

May 7, 2017 – JPod Southern Resident Orcas Return

May 7, 2017

This morning was a special treat in the Victoria whale watching world as we welcomed one of our Southern Resident Killer Whale pods back! Our morning trip didn’t have to go too far out of the harbour before encountering the J16 family group of J pod heading east towards their favorite foraging grounds. The J16s […]

Remembering J-2 Granny

January 13, 2017

The Orca Spirit family is mourning the loss of the oldest member of the Southern Resident Killer Whales and the oldest known orca in the world, J-2 Granny. Granny was a force to be respected on the water. This ultimate matriarch led J-pod with intelligence that only a wise leader could; a whale who has […]

3 J-Pod Behaviours to Watch For This Whale Watching Season

August 16, 2016

It’s the middle of August and the whale watching season is in full swing! We’ve seen a dazzling array of behaviour, from quirky to common, deliberate to downright hilarious. And that’s just from the whale watchers on the deck of the boat! Seriously though, the summer whale watching season has been as wondrous and captivating […]

Southern Resident Orcas & Humpback Whales

August 13, 2016

Saturday morning was spectacular, with sunny skies and really calm waters as we made our way west on the Juan de Fuca Strait. We passed by beautiful and rugged landscapes of Vancouver Island, then something else caught our attention. Triangular black dorsal fins started popping up! We found members of both J and L pod […]

How the Oldest Killer Whales On Earth Stay Young

August 2, 2016

How would you react if you were told, for the first time, that your species was only expected to walk the Earth for 30 or so years at a time? 50 years? 100 years? You’d probably race to the nearest health food store to pick up some kale and spinach, either to prolong your life […]

Why is Family Structure so Crucial to J-Pod’s Resident Orcas?

May 24, 2016

Imagine cruising around in your family’s chosen mode of transportation (when I was a kid that meant a robust, 80’s style Ford Bronco that fit approximately 24 children). You go everywhere together in this vehicle. Someone’s hungry? Let’s whip through the drive through at McDonald’s. Someone has swimming lessons? We’ll drop ‘em off in the […]

The Orca Families Living in BC’s Coastal Waters

February 10, 2016

There’s really no substitute for the real thing, and when it comes to animals – wild animals living their lives as they’ve done for thousands of years – the behaviours we’re fortunate enough to witness drive this point home. For Orca Spirit’s Rachael Merrett, an encounter with an orca when she was six years old […]

Neighbours for a Century: What Did Whale Watching Look Like in 1915?

November 25, 2015

“The long and the short of it is that it didn’t exist, at least not in the sense that it does today.” That’s Sheenah Duclos, one of the Head Naturalists at Orca Spirit. For professionals such as Sheenah as well as amateur whale watching enthusiasts (and orca whale bloggers), watching orcas, greys and humpbacks, not […]