April 2009

Welcome to a new season of whale watching! We started our sailings on the 26 of March and we've been off to a great start. For the month of April, we had only 4 trips with no whale sightings and a total of 6 trips were cancelled due to high winds. Luckily we've had a lot more sunshine than rain this month, which is a bit unusual in Vancouver but we aren't complaining!

One of our first whale encounters was with transient orcas, and we were lucky to see a brand new calf. The transients have been found throughout the Gulf Islands, as far south as Haro Straight and as far north as the Trincomali channel. Pod sizes have ranged from 3-8 whales on average.

We've also been encountering some grey whales which is quite exciting since they only make a brief stop here before continuing along their West Coast migration. They spend some time here feeding in Boundary Bay. The whales don't tend to be very active but on a couple of occasions our passengers were lucky to see the whales spyhop (which is when they stick their heads out of the water to have a peek at the above water surroundings). If you get the chance to see grey whales, we'll give you the warning to make sure you don't get downwind. These guys have some really bad breath!

Early in the season we operate sea lion cruises as well and they have provided our passengers with plenty of entertainment as sea lions tend to be quite vocal whenever our boats are around. Sea lions can be quite lazy but they usually give us some good poses for the photographers onboard.

We were lucky to catch sight of a Stellar sea lion feeding on a halibut on one of our tours. Sea lions tend to rip their food into pieces so we had a bit of a show as the fish was thrown around.

We've been spoiled as well by the huge number of bald eagles around. We have a pair that are a bit too young to breed but they spend a lot of time sitting just outside our office. They've been dubbed Matthew and Maureen and, because they sit so close by, they provide our passengers with an excellent opportunity for photos!

As we head into May, we hope more sunshine is on the way! Until next time...