Heather and Raptor
The first three tour day of the season and I spent it with two of our resident humpbacks. We know them as Heather and Raptor. Heather Raptor & Lost Biggs is the description of the day as a whole. The third trip intended to be with a pod of Orca that had been southbound all day from Nanaimo BC. Leaving the harbor on the third trip, I did not stop at my usual places to see marine life. We were booked it north for an hour and a half.
I took the time to scan and listen for blows. We stopped several times in what should have been their path but did not see them. I kept pushing beyond what I was sure was too far. Then I called the interisland ferry “Sound Queen” on the VHF. The captain shared with me that the pod had changed directions earlier and was Northbound. As a result, we were not able to locate the pod. Northbound from that point left them with many options for a direction. We searched for a bit, but we were running out of time to get my guests back for the 10 pm ferry.
The first two tours were pretty cool. Heather and Raptor showed their tail flukes many times. Heather has an “H” on the underside of her left fluke, because of that she is easy to ID as long as she is fluking. Raptor’s fluke black for the most part, with a few lighter colored markings under her fluke.
In some of the pictures, you can see the bumps on the head of the Humpbacks. Those are humpback hair follicles.
Stellar Sea Lions
There were the Stellar Sea Lions to see with their prominent voices that carry a long ways off. We were shut down listening to the Humpbacks breathe. Big bull stellar sea lions can be heard a mile away. One of them was a curious fellow, swimming over to check us out.
Bald Eagles
I shared my Canadian Bald Eagle story and my mating for life story. A mated pair story of ‘Yes Dear.’ They are such beautiful seabirds.
All said and done it was a pretty good first day of three tours of Heather Raptor & Lost Biggs.
Included are a few shots of Pigeon Gullimont flying around the boat showing off their color and beauty. Many beautiful seabirds are present in the Salish Sea. We have 172 different species of seabird.
Our Biggs Killer Whales did not make the tour. However, it was a beautiful evening for a cruise. On the way back from the third tour I caught the sunset with my camera. The harbor was in sight just as darkness took place.
Check out some of my other photoblog pages at Whale Tales.
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