July 16, 2016, Saturday — Whale Watching on the sound
Anika's Notes
Got up to eat breakfast at a cafe by the docks. Went whale watching. Saw orcas and humpback but none of the ones jumped out of the water. :- ( but I still had fun :- ) Went back to the hotel to rest and swam a little too. ate dinner . went to bed.
We had a very early start to go to the Fishermen’s Wharf to pick up our Eagle Wings Whale Watching Boat. They had a great crew that were very informative. We saw a bunch of male orca dorsal fins in an area where the resident orca pods were feeding. They were very hard to capture on film, though.
Anika waits in the cabin of the boat
Orca tail is sighted
Then we went to another area where some solitary humpback whales had been seen, and we hit the jackpot, spotting at least a half-dozen or more of the usually solitary whales, lured over by a bloom of krill.
boat's wake as we depart for humpback territory
diving humpback
We had a surprise event, a guy on the boat used the occasion to propose to his girl! We took pictures of the happy pair and sent them on by email.
amphibious bus/boat run by Hippo Tours
water taxi near our mooring
water taxi
Back to the hotel briefly, and then a trip to the Royal Victoria Museum to see their early peoples exhibit. I think Anika liked the totem poles and some of the drawings.
totem
Anika looks on from above
First Nations ceremonial cape
First Nations totems
Anika in front of a totem
First Nations healing plant
Back to the hotel again where Martha took Anika swimming. Anika did a lot of dives and handstands on the bottom and underwater swimming. A favorite trick was to time it so when someone was doing the backstroke in a lane, Anika would swim under the across the lane underwater but on her back, looking up at them and they never knew she was there. Early bed tonight. We have a drive to Chemainus tomorrow early to see the big art, and then another shorter drive to Namaino to get the ferry to go to Vancouver.