VANCOUVER ISLAND - cruising with Killer Whales

Hunting the Killers......

An amazing day. It was D’s birthday so we decided to treat ourselves to a killer-whale-watching cruise. We suited up in our full-body-one-piece-extra-bright-red-spray-suits, and got into a customised Zodiac with a bunch of Dutch Travel Agents (on a business trip!).

Go Team....


Astronaut Sinclair prepares for departure - headed fearlessly into oblivion, to venture forth and discover unknown worlds and realms, etc etc etc....... Cue: heroic background music.


We sped out of Victoria Harbour, and headed south towards the waters of Washington State.

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We paused in a huge undersea kelp forest (shown below) - impressive fact: these kelp plants grow a foot and a half EVERY DAY.


It was a perfect trip - awesome sunny day, a GREAT tour operator, and we cruised right into the path of a ‘superpod’ of over 90 killer whales.

We were treated to an amazing display - dozens of whales breaching the surface at once within metres of the boat, sending massive plumes of noisily exhaled air into the warm afternoon sun.


This huge whale ‘bobbed’ in the water right next to us, allowing us a great view and a million photo-ops.






Another highlight - We were (to quote the tour-operator) “absolutely among the luckiest humans on earth” to see live ‘Whale Porn’. The operator had only just finished describing the mating habits of the whales, when a few surfaced - one displaying an impressive whale penis to the delight of the crowd. Hilarious. Although, after some heavy deliberation and legal advice from Miss Lawson, we decided agaisnt posting any explicit pics...

A great trip - we saw a bald headed eagle, kelp forests, seals and sea-lions, and some energetic porpoises.

Headed back to Terra-Firma....


The map below shows where we went - our route is marked in green. The US/Canada border is visible in red....