I had attempted to see Orca before while staying in Tofino on Vancouver Island, with no luck. However, with both resident and transient Orca present off the coast of Victoria I knew this was a better spot and had high hopes.
My first trip, however, was less than successful, a lighthouse, a few seals and chill to the core was all I had to show for a few hours on the boat. Thankfully, Prince of Whales whale watching have a policy, if you don't see a whale you can come again for free. To be honest I don't think many people take them up on the offer, most normal people have plans after all. But I didn't have much else to do so I called the hostel, extended my stay by a night and headed off to Earls bar for a couple of half price Marguerites.
The next day luck was on my side. Within a less than an hour we came across this pod of Orca. The crew were able to tell by their fins that this was a group of transient orca and they had a new calf with them. Transient Orca travel far and wide in search of prey and typically prey on other marine mammals such as seal, porpoise and other whales while the resident Orca typically feed on Salmon. These two ecotypes are genetically unique and won't even breed with each other.
As we watched on a pod of Dall's porpoise appeared off the starboard side of the boat. Dall's porpoise are a bit like dolphins but on steroids and are one of the few creatures that can out run Orca in the open ocean, so it seemed unlikely the Orca would bother with giving chase.
But the Orca had other ideas, jumping out of the water, a term ironically called porpoising they gave chase and attempted to hunt down their quarrel. From the surface it was next to impossible to tell where the porpoise or Orca where going to surface next. But with the adrenaline coursing through my veins and reactions like a cat I managed to snap this photo of one of the Orca completely out of the water. Seeing a 3 tonne whale completely breach the surface of the water is one of the most impressive displays of pure power that I have ever seen!
Orca are incredibly successful hunters, but not this time and the pod of porpoise managed to live another day. For the young calf it was all a bit much. Like me the calf was very excited by the whole ordeal and I could complete relate to it as tail slapped the water and practiced its breaching. It was even more endearing as transient Orca travel in silence so as not to spook their prey, meaning its best behaviour for the calf normally. But having failed a hunt the calf was cut some slack and allowed to play much to the enjoyment of everyone on the boat.
