Today was a rather wild ride on the Ocean Magic!. With captain Scott at the helm with naturalists Liz, Brandon, and Dan, we left the inner harbour in search of wildlife and encountered some active weather. I will admit that I find it rather thrilling and enjoyable as the Ocean Magic rides  well in rough seas. In April, we are not always  guaranteed to find cetaceans (killer whales, whales etc) but we do know that there is an abidance of wildlife in the Salish Sea while on our search. We headed east up Haro Strait in search of orca. Along the way, we stopped off at Kelp Reef to check out 2 bald eagles who assumed their dominant positions at the top of the reef marker. While looking quite impressive, a much larger and quite stealth flying object snuck up on the Ocean Magic from the stern (back of the boat) and it turns out the Canadian Armed Forces were out during family day. They gave passengers quite the thrill while arms waved from the helicopter to the boat. Upon closer inspection through my lens, there were three youths waving back at us. It was an unexpected and exciting encounter to be had by all! After our encounter with a large flying machine, we continued north and found ourselves at Speiden Island (a privately owned island on the American side of the Gulf Islands) where we saw a large group of goats both males and females resting in large numbers on the hillside. There are also many interesting geographic characteristics on the island and you will see in the images the odd placements of large rocks, and individual trees which make for awesome photos. We carried on along side of the island and found 7 Stellar sealions hauled out on the rocks resting. We continued back towards Victoria, stopping at Discovery Island along the way, a favourite natural reserve with an abidance of bird life. Upon arriving in the area, a raven was calling – probably at us… which then set off a couple of Canadian Geese and before you know it was a symphony of bird calls. While heading back along the Victoria waterfront, passengers were treated to an adventurous ride, with big winds and waves. Ocean Magic was greeted by one of our local kiteboarders who braved his way over to our boat  and gave us a wave (see video clip). There is never a dull moment out in these waters, one never knows what one is going to find . The sun stayed with us most of the day and greeted us back into the beautiful Victoria inner harbour.