We knew that we wanted to go whale watching, and so we went to the Tourism Bureau to learn more about what was available. We'd already been overwhelmed by the number of companies providing the service and were wondering how on earth to pick the one that would be best for us, though I was holding out for not having to wear a survival suit ...
Once again, it was the ideal place to go. We were offered a variety of choices, and we learned that there was a company with a larger boat, that offered a considerable discount to those who booked through the Bureau, and that there was a sailing that afternoon. It was a gorgeous day - did I mention that we had had the most wonderful weather for all of our trip? We saw misty weather, with a few rain drops once. But everywhere we went, the "locals" commented on the weather, and how unusual it was - mild and sunny for days in a row.
So, here we were with ideal weather conditions, so we decided to go ahead and book, and take advantage of both the discount AND the weather. We also made a reservation for afternoon tea at The Empress. You really can't go to Victoria and not have tea at The Empress -- especially no when you've been the one responsible for serving afternoon tea at the hotel ... back in our days when we both worked at the White Hart Hotel in Lewes, in England. (I must say, it wasn't quite like that when we worked there!)
With time to spare, we explored Victoria for a bit and then went to the gathering place for our whale watching venture. If you've ever gone on such an expedition, then you know that there are no guarantees. They have an idea of where they are most likely to be, and the boat operators communicate with one another about sightings ... but still ... They told us that the morning group has seen a humpback whale, so we were hopeful.
We set off on the larger boat, Marauder IV, and enjoyed the view of Victoria from the water. It's a very busy harbour and the boats, ships, and seaplanes have to be carefully co-ordinated.
And then -- there they were. Not the humpbacks of the morning, but Orcas! There are three resident pods in the area ... and there was a pod, swimming by ... (be prepared for a lot of pictures of whale fins, and parts of whales ...)
It has been almost two years since there was a live birth, and the survival of the pods is still in question. The baby, little L120 will not receive a name for two years, in part because they do not know the gender of the baby yet -- that becomes apparent with maturity, and is reflected in the shape of the dorsal fin -- but also because of the very high mortality rate among young orcas. L120 has a fifty per cent chance of surviving for two years.
As you might guess, it is difficult to catch the whales as they leap, so I've "borrowed" a couple of photos of L120 and Mama (L86)
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Also among the whales we saw is 'Granny', at 103 years old, she is the oldest known living orca in the world. Granny is the matriarch, and we were told that we can tell how intelligent whales are by how they communicate with one another, and also by the fact that whales live in matriarchal societies or pods.
After a lengthy time spent watching the whales, we finally had to turn for shore. On our way back we travelled close to Race Rocks Ecological Preserve, also known as the bachelor pad for the seals and sea lions who didn't quite make the grade in the mating dance. Specially trained university students and scientists conduct studies on the island. The crew of the Marauder were expressing sympathy for them. They told us that the island not only looks like a bachelor pad, it also smells like one too. We really didn't notice and were busily taking pictures.
There are Steller's sea lions, California seals, and Harbour Seals. I see from their blog that they also have elephant seals, but none were present as we passed the rocks.
Then we headed back to the busy harbour,
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