Friday, June 24

WHALE WATCHING FROM A ZODIAC BOAT.

Day 256 – After an early lunch in the RV, we left for our whale watching trip. We had to be at the dock at French Creek at 12:30 p.m. for a 1 p.m. departure. We were taking the tour through Ocean Ecoventures based in Parksville and Cowichan Bay. It was a small tour, allowing no more than 12 people on board the Zodiac (RIB-rigid inflatable boat), and that is including the crew.

When we got to their office at the French Creek Harbour, we were checked in and asked to sign liability waivers. Passengers were told they had to suit up in Survival Flotation Suits. We’d worn them before on other cruises and they are uncomfortable, however they do keep you warm. Only problem was it was supposed to reach 84 degrees this afternoon. We’d be warm enough…..

It’s never easy to find a Survival Suit that fits; they are either too big or too small, and while the others wait and watch, you get to try on other sizes. Once in our suits, we all waddled in a row, like penguins, the ½ mile to where the boat was docked at the end of the marina. Getting on the Zodiac raft was not easy either when stepping down from a dock into a small, unstable boat in gear that has no flexibility – talk about feeling clumsy!

Once we were on the water, it was easier, although the suits remained uncomfortable throughout the trip. The guide/captain, Shaun, was in touch with other whale watching boats in the area and it was determined that there was a family of Orca Whales a fair distance south of us. We hurried down south so that we didn’t spend too much time traveling and lose time with the whales. The water was rough at that time, so with the speed of the boat coupled with the roughness of the sea, we were all hanging on for dear life. Seriously. On a Zodiac, you are low to the water and there were no railings around the outside of the boat.

It took about an hour to reach the whales. A “Prince of Whales” whale watch boat was already there. I usually like speed in a boat, but I was glad to finally slow down. Orcas are also known as Killer Whales. Typically in the past, you might have found them performing at Aquariums in captivity. They are black and white spotted. And they are actually dolphins – the largest dolphin. We’ve been on many whale watching trips, both in the Atlantic and the Pacific. We had never seen Orcas in the wild. We were excited.

This pod included the mother with a couple of generations of children. The male, named Stanley, was much bigger than the mother and he was her oldest son. He was playful and was the one to come closest to our boat. The smallest “child” with them was obviously the youngest. I wanted to pinch its cheeks – sort of. We followed them, and they followed us, for quite awhile. On the boat, we were all waiting for one or more of them to dive so we could see more of them – or for one of them to come up head first. But according to Shaun, he had not seen many Orcas dive or breach, and Stanley only did it after a big meal when he was feeling all pleased and happy with himself. Shaun had not seen any indication that they were feeding heavily.

From where we were watching Stanley and family, we could see Mount Baker in the far distance, covered with snow and towering over Washington state. We could barely pick out the city of Vancouver – little specks in the distance. The scenery was lovely on the eastern side of Vancouver Island, and on the mainland we could clearly see the Cascade Mountain Range. At times we passed small islands. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day.

Shaun got on the VHF radio to check with other whale watch cruises. There was reported to be a Humpback whale north of us near French Creek, our homebound destination. And there was this other family of Orcas on the distant side of the Bay. He had a hard time deciding which lead to pursue, but the cruise was 4 hours long and we were approaching the end of hour 3.

Off to the north we went in search of the Humpback. The ride back was on calm water and it was hurried but so much smoother. The wind was in our faces, so some of us pulled our hats over our faces to protect our eyes and ears from the wind. We passed French Creek and kept going north, then saw a blow in the distance. We’d found our Humpback. We followed the blows and slowed down to a crawl as we approached. This was a big whale. We stayed awhile, through several breathing and diving cycles, hoping for the big dive with the tail flip. We didn’t leave until we had that tail flip.

It was a very good trip, but in our opinion, any whale watching trip is a good trip. We headed back to French Creek Marina and were greeted by two Bald Eagles as we entered the Harbour. Getting off the boat was as difficult as getting on the boat, but once off I could not wait to remove that darn survival suit – it HAD to weigh about 20 pounds. I was not the only stopping to take their suits off.

It was 5:30 p.m. by the time we’d cleared the office. Next door was the French Creek Harbour Pub. It was calling our names. We nabbed a table on the patio – others from the whale watch were eating there, too. Nice environment, but our meal was unremarkable. Therefore, I will not remark. Grin.

We got back to the RV, fed the girls, and sat outside in the tent to marvel over our day. The high today was 84 degrees.