Way Past Butchart Gardens

T124s in San Juan Channel

This morning was one of those days when I knew where I would be heading as I was drinking my morning coffee. The Biggs T124s near Orcas Island. By the time I had breakfast and was ready to head to the boat, they were in Boundary Pass. Latter we would be with them way beyond Butchart Gardens in Saanich Inlet.

I got the boat ready to go. When my guests were on board, I held my safety brief, and we were off the dock. We were now heading towards the T124s. They were nearing a No-Go Zone. I wanted to make sure we saw them before they entered the restricted area. As it turned out, they changed course, and we watched them for a while until it was time to move on.

We left to see Harbor Seals, Bald Eagles, Black Oystercatchers, Pigeon Guillemot, Rhinoceros Auklet and more. The Stellar Sea Lions are starting to come back, but we did not see them today.

T124s Way Past Butchart Gardens

For the afternoon tour, I knew we had a bit of choppy water to go through. It was a long ride to catch up with the T124s. We ended up within a mile of the end of Saanich Inlet. We were way past Butchart Gardens on Vancouver Island.

The bottom of Saanich Inlet is so beautiful; I would love to take Lisa for a cruise and drift around enjoying the beauty. Someone was waterskiing down there; it was super calm. But, I know it can be windy and rough in there too. The last time I was down there, we were bucking into 3′ seas, and the wind was whipping spray up, making things uncomfortable.

We saw the Canadian Bald Eagles. 😉 and Harbor Seals but most of the afternoon trip was travel time, so we spent an extra hour on tour.

The whales gave us some excellent views, and I was able to capture a few. As an after thought I added a Google Earth screen shot to show you Friday Harbor on the right, Sidney across Haro Strait. Butchart Gardens is labeled and I placed a marker where we left the Whales towards the end of Saanich Inlet.