Whale watching with Mom

One of the sacrifices made by moving around a lot, as I tend to do, is that you can’t bring your whole family with you. Fortunately, with air travel being relatively affordable, the world is a pretty small place and it’s easy enough (if the time can be found) to arrange for a visit.

It was with great gratitude that I welcomed my mother to Vancouver in May, her first trip to the West Coast in 50 years! Welcoming an out-of-towner is the best opportunity to check off some of the tourist boxes in the place you live, so we headed down to Granville Island, hopped on a cool looking boat, and took to the seas in search of aquatic adventure.

I walk down to the coast every day, however this was the first time (aside from our local transit flotilla) I’ve actually taken to the water. A new perspective was found, looking back at the city which I currently call home.

More astounded by the vastness of the sea, I took little notice of the vessel on which we were being transported, other than to note that it was apparently fueled by gravity. Sustainable energy!

In the capable hands of our captain, and on some information from sources unknown, we sped off in to the nothingness.

The friendly and otherwise excellent naturalists on board shared with us where we were heading, and what we hoped to find.

With the vessel at speed, it was windy and quite cool on the exposed viewing platform. Mom took advantage of the warm coffee offered by the small cantina below deck.

As minutes turned to more minutes, and possibly even halves of hours, a tension grew amongst the crowd. The operation quotes a very high success rate, but what if we didn’t find anything? Could we be so unlucky?

I occupied myself by photographing some of the other ships with which we shared the sea, both small…

And ridiculously large.

We watched…

And watched…

And waited.

With hope fading and the fear of disappointment creeping in, a call went up! Three o’clock! Off the starboard bow!

The captain maneuvered expertly, bringing us closer to our quarry.

Now we were captivated, and cameras pointed as one.

As an exercise in restraint, I’ll share but a few of the many (very similar looking) photos I captured.

Recent news reports aside, the staff on board shared that the orcas usually take very little interest in the various watercraft which may surround them. While these folks may have been getting a closer view, I was happy to be on a vessel larger than the creatures which we sought.

When we think of orcas, I think we all have that one image in mind. You know the one. I was extremely fortunate to have my lens pointed in the right direction to capture a breach. The crew let us know that, though they offer tours daily, this was the first they had witnessed so far in the season. What luck!

After spending some time getting to know the pod, we and the whales waved to each other, and we headed off to see what else we could find.

Next up were some small rocky islands, absolutely crawling with sea lions!

It was interesting to watch them interact with each other, which seemed to mostly consist of fighting, biting, and pushing off the island.

Another amazing experience under our belts, it was time to start heading back to Vancouver. We were further provided with views of some nesting eagles and eaglets, which I did not manage to photograph, and a unique look at West Vancouver’s Lighthouse Park, which I did.

As we entered False Creek and neared the end of our journey, the naturalists on board recapped the trip. Apparently the orcas are identified by the unique shape of their dorsal fins, and the saddle patch below it.

And with the conclusion of our adventure comes the conclusion of this post. I had an amazing time, and was glad to share it with Mom! The tour, through Prince of Whales in Vancouver, comes with my highest recommendation. They even offer a guarantee where you can schedule another tour if you were not fortunate to see any whales! I was glad to check this off my list, and feel very lucky to have seen what we saw.