Captain’s Blog

Knowing Who’s Who in the Deep Blue

January 15, 2019

The Difference Between Transient and Resident Orca Whales Near Victoria As a naturalist who has led thousands of whale and wildlife tours near Victoria, one of the greatest experiences on the water is the opportunity to watch wildlife interact with each other.  With such a diverse array of species in the Salish Sea, we constantly […]

What Is The Difference Between Transient and Resident Killer Whales (Orcas)

November 16, 2018

The waters surrounding Victoria are an exciting place to go whale watching because there are so many different types of wildlife that call this region home.  People from around the world flock to this area, excited to have an opportunity to see the greatest predator in the world’s oceans- the killer whale! Photo Credit: Rachael […]

Transient Killer Whales & Race Rocks Ecological Reserve

December 7, 2017

On a grey, wavy November afternoon we left the harbour and headed west towards Race Rocks because we had been having success finding whales in that area quite recently. Before we could even get to Race Rocks, a sharp black dorsal fin cut through air. At first glance the captain was not sure what he […]

Transient Killer Whales, Seals & Sea Lions

September 15, 2017

Today was what we call a T-PARTY! T of course representing Transient Killer Whale, and party referring to many group all coming together. We first caught up with the T10 and T46Bs travelling out in the strait close to one another, and then before we knew it the two groups came together within the boundaries […]

September 6, 2017 – Transient & Resident Orca Pods

September 6, 2017

Today was the perfect example of the amazing differences between Transient and Resident Orca. This morning we spent the tour with two groups of Transients travelling together – the T10s and T109As. These orca were hunting harbour seals close to the shoreline, and we got some looks at the big male swimming sideways along a […]

Transient Orcas, Whales, Sea Otter, Seals & Sea Lions

September 1, 2017

Today was a stunning day out on the water. It seemed like everywhere we looked whales popped up! This morning we headed west to a place called Beecher Bay and found the T60 Transient Orca matriline. After following this orca family along the shoreline we headed a bit south and ended up with some phenomenal […]

August 19, 2017 – Transient Killer Whales

August 19, 2017

10am Tour In was another beautiful day in the capital of British Columbia and guests were excited to get on the water to see if we could find the giants of the ocean- whales! Well whales were found as we cruised the blue as we sprang upon a family of transient killer whales! We were […]

August 12, 2017 – Transient Orcas, Seals & Sea Lions

August 12, 2017

10am Tour August continues to be an exciting month on the whale watching front. Today was no different as we were fortunate to find black fins slicing the waters near Race Rocks Lighthouse. Their sharply pointed fins gave away that they were our mammal-hunting orcas that are also known as Bigg’s or transient orcas. This […]

Transient Killer Whales, Seals, Sea Lions & Bear

August 11, 2017

Our Transient Killer Whales have really been making a splash this summer! These whales know the perfect places to go hunting for Harbour Seals and today we watched the T10 and T60 matrilines team up for some ultra-efficient hunting. This morning we came across the orcas not far from Victoria. The whales did a circuit […]