Our tour today

We had a fabulous day out on the water with a surprise sighting of a minke whale shortly after leaving the dock at Alder Bay this morning. We observed it in the distance foraging along the shoreline of Cormorant Island moving eastward and as we neared the area of the last sighting and as we drifted in the current, we realized that there were actually two minke whales when two of them surfaced side by side nearby our boat. The sea state was calm making it easy for viewing and they were identified by

Christie as being Eclipse and Bolt, resident minke whales who have been sighted in previous years in this area when they return to feed each summer. Leaving the minke whales behind us we cruised in through Weynton Passage and were fortunate in sighting a humpback whale blow in the distance in Blackfish Sound in the vicinity of West Passage and Orca Lab, it was foraging in wide circles. It was taking shallow dives as we observed and did not fluke but we did manage to take a fluke photo from a distance away as we were leaving. Christie has identified it as being Inukshuk, the first time it has been sighted this season. It was exciting to suddenly see some 12-20 Pacific white-sided dolphins swimming alongside of the humpback at one point, they too were feeding intently while dall's porpoises were also sighted nearby. It was a great day for sightings especially with the sun shinning bright for most of the tour.