It was a chilly December day on the water. I originally had planned on heading west towards some humpback whales near Victoria. A report had been made of a pod of Orca up in the Strait of Georgia, and I decided to head for those guys.
Today I included a screenshot of our route that I did a quick markup on my phone. At the top of the image you can see where the “B” is and that is the reported position of the killer whales. At the bottom left you can see the “H” which is where I was headed but everyone elected to head back and get warmed up.
At East Point, we saw a few Stellar Sea Lions that I like to call Sea Bears. In one of the pics, you can see some phlegm being coughed up. Yuck!
The weather was supposed to be calm and light wind, but it was a pretty stiff breeze with a 2′ roll. I went beyond where we should have run into the Orca and then headed for Active Pass. I spoke with a tug and barge coming towards us, but they had not seen the Orca. Nobody was with the pod, they could have changed direction, or we just missed them.
We went by Georgina Point Lighthouse and spotted a couple of Bald Eagles glassing the water. Next, we discovered a Stellar Sea Lion feasting on a Skate, which is like a stingray. He was thrashing it, tearing chunks of meat off so he could swallow it while the seagulls were close by to scarf any bits leftover.
Not having any luck finding Orca, I was headed for some Humpback Whales off of Victoria and planned on extending the trip to do so. However, some of my guests were from Florida, and they were ready for some heat and warmth back in Friday Harbor. Being honest, I was cold too, but wanted to make sure we saw whales. Today was one of those rare occasions when we do not see whales.
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