We were on the ferry heading over to Saturna with some of our friends visiting from Sweden. We had told them about how we had seen orcas from the ferry last July and promised them many whale sightings while they were visiting. We didn’t really believe that it was true when we heard the ferry announcement just after arriving at Maine Island, but there they were, the distinct dorsal fins of Southern Residents! Everyone on the boat ran to the stern to stare eagerly into the sunset for a glimpse of these majestic creatures.
At first we could only see three, including a large bull, then, as they left Village Bay and we thought our moment with the whales was over, we spotted another group of four rounding the North tip of the Pender Islands! They hung out for a bit, playing around and spy hopping and just when we thought we couldn’t be more excited, another four arrived, as they had obviously been trailing behind (see the video here).
The ferry kindly and whale-wisely slowed down and ultimately stopped in order to let them pass. And as we said goodbye and sailed off into the sunset the Swedes were pretty sure that we had been planning it all along-what a fantastic welcome to the Gulf Islands and to Beautiful British Columbia!
Leave a Reply