News in Victoria

 

Humpback whales returning

 

Over the last few weeks we have had increasing reports of Humpback Whales being sighted in the Straits of Juan De Fuca. We had the odd sightings throughout the summer but it seems almost a daily occurance that Humpback Whales are now being sighted in the local waters, probably due to large amounts of food in the water such as Krill.

 

It is very exciting to see more and more of these large Baleen Whales visiting the waters off Victoria and a thrill for passengers and crew alike. Visit our Whale Sightings Blog to get up to date reports of the latest Whale encounters.   http://5starwhales.blogspot.com/

 

We are also continueing to encounter both the Resident (fish eaters) Orcas and Transient (marine mammal eaters) Orcas on a regular basis and our tours over the last few weeks have been spectacular. Apart from the various whale encounters we are also seeing a large number of Harbor Seals, Stellar & California Sealions, Northern Elephant Seals and both Harbor and Dalls Porpoise. The amount of Marine Birds in the area has also been staggering signifying a large influx of food in the area.

 

New Transient Orca Calf Discovered

 

On September 1st, 2008 whilst on our afternoon tour we discovered a brand new Transient Orca Calf within the T10 group of Orcas. The Calf was obviously just a couple of days old but seemed very healthy as it travelled along with the various members of the T10’s. At this time it has not been determined who the Mother is of this Calf.