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Victoria | Vancouver | Seattle
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Tag Archives: seals

Ocean Magic Adventure April 30 2011

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The ocean magic set out on a perfect Saturday with sunshine and warm temps in search of wildlife. We headed east in Juan de Fuca into Haro Strait. We made our way to Spieden island where we caught glimpses of the goats who inhabit the island. As quoted by Wikipedia; “Spieden Island is a privately owned island (James Jannard—founder and major shareholder of Oakley, Inc.[1]) in the San Juan Archipelago in the U.S. state of Washington. It has a land area of 516.4 acres (209.0 ha) and no permanent resident population. In the 1970′s the island was used for big game hunting; game animals were imported and a hotel, airport, and small hangar built to accommodate visitors. This no longer occurs due to the risk of shots carrying across to highly populated San Juan Island. The resident animal population still includes exotic animals such as Mouflon sheep from Corsica and Sika deer from Asia”. We checked out the “mans club” which consists of a group of lounging Stellar sealions who were hauled out onto the rocks and some who appeared to be enjoying the sun. For the first time, I got to see what a walking sealion looks like, check out the video clip for a glimpse of that. We then continued to circumnavigate San Juan Island and checked out the various colonies of sea birds such as the pelagic cormorants as well as groups of seals and sealions. We made our way back to Victoria with perfect scenic conditions, along with many boats and kayaks who were out taking advantage of the summer like weather. As we past the Trial Island light house, a single bald eagle was sitting up high looking over the Salish Sea, check out the photos for a peek of that!. Although we didn’t find any cetaceans (whales) on our trip we still enjoyed viewing incredible nature and the wildlife who make it their home.

Ocean Magic Marine Wildlife Adventure April 22 12:15

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Capt. Scott slipped the Ocean Magic out of Victoria’s inner harbor and out into a spectacular afternoon. The sun was shining and the waters calm, our search took us east past Trial Island and on to Hein Bank. Here Capt. Scott put us in excellent position to view Minke Whales. These gentle giants were feeding in the shallow water, breaking the surface for a quick breath. The water was alive with sea birds, picking off the abundant supply of feed. Mika and Liz filled our passengers with information and answered many questions on our marine adventure. Our trip then took us to Whale Rock where we saw Stellar Sea Lions, Harbor Seals, Bald Eagles, Cormorants and Rhinoceros Auklets. The water was alive with wildlife and our crew made sure we took it all in, a truly great afternoon on the water with Prince of Whales! Clint “Orcawizard”

Ocean Magic Adventure April 9 2011

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The thing about wild life viewing is you don’t know what you’re going to find. This means that once in a while we do not find any killer whales or other cetaceans on our trip. Today was one of those days. However, that being said, one can still really enjoy the adventure while finding other kinds of wildlife – which there is plenty of out there. That is what makes our pacific coast so amazing. We were the first whale watching boat out today so we went in search of killer whales on the way to Race Rocks ecological reserve. Upon arriving there, we found approximately 6 Elephant seals and 2 Stellar sealions not to mention tons of harbour seals hauled out on the rocks. There was a huge gathering of Pelagic Cormorants on one of the rocks as well. We then headed east through Juan de Fuca Strait  towards San Juan Island – the typical feeding grounds of the southern resident killer whales. We did not find any orca so we looped around to Discovery Island near Oak Bay in Victoria to take a look at the preserved beauty. Passengers were thrilled to see a Great Blue Heron, 2 eagles and other birds such as Common Murres and Harlequin Ducks. The Ocean Magic crew did a wonderful job searching the pacific giving tourists the sometimes difficult glimpse into looking for cetaceans. We’re reminded that we’re out in nature, and that itself is perfect in which ever way you encounter it.

Ocean Magic Adventure April 2 2011

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The Ocean Magic set out at 12:15 with lots of eager passengers in search of killer whales. As there have been transient (meat eating) killer whales sighted in the area over the past few days, we were certain we’d find more today however we were one of only a handful of whale watching boats out there so we were pretty much on our own to find them out in that vast ocean of ours. With captain Anthony at the helm along with whale “manifester” Mallard (who made a guest appearance), naturalist Liz and Biologist Mika, along with bloggers Orca Wizard and Orca Magic, we headed east through thick clouds into open sun as we went north in Haro Strait. Along our travels passengers were delighted to see a variety of other wild life such as harbour seals, California Sealions, a pair of bald eagles and other sea birds. Just after an hour into our travels as we were nearing Active Pass, we heard that Jpod, our resident killer whale pod had been sighted just minutes from us! So we did a u turn and only minutes later found Jpod members spread apart traveling south west in Swanson Channel just South of Pender Island. We were a very happy Ocean Magic to have had the opportunity to see Jpod! Please enjoy photos and video clip of that sighting. While on route home, passengers were treated to a thrill seeking ride as we had some big waters off of Victoria’s waterfront. The Ocean Magic is a pleasure to ride in such water, actually making it fun rather then scary. Please see the bonus video below for a fun clip of that experience which was shot on an HD GoPro video camera strapped to my head (was sped up to 200 times). The following excerpt was written by blog contributor and bird expert “Orca Magic” who was also on board with us during that trip; We had the J 16 family group,   Mom J 16 ‘Slick’, J 26 ‘Mike ‘ and little ‘Echo ‘J 42. Interestingly J 36, who is 12 yrs old, their sister wasn’t swimming with this family group…guess she was off with another friend. J 33, their other brother died last year. I have sent you two pics of Mandarte Island, a breeding bird colony for Pelagic and Double-crested Cormorants as well as Pigeon Guillemots and the ubiquitous Glaucous-winged Gull. Please note: all photos were shot with a telephoto zoom lens are also cropped for internet viewing.

Ocean Magic Wildlife Adventure March 26 2011

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Captain Anthony slipped the Ocean Magic from its berth in Victoria’s inner harbour and took us out into the Salish Sea. Our trip took us east to Chatham and Discovery islands. Here the marine life was everywhere, harbour seals, blue herons, eagles and cormorants. We then crossed Haro Strait and headed to Whale Rock, this small island was home today to many Stellar Sea Lions and a pair of Bald Eagles. We also caught sight of Harbour Porpoise near the island. Our sharp eyed crew then spotted a huge group of Bald Eagles on a small nearby island, we slowly approached and observed over 20 Bald Eagles resting, flying and playing in the wind. Truly amazing. This was great wildlife viewing experience, our talented crew of Mika, Mark and Dan kept us informed of all we saw and answered all the questions posed by our passengers. Yet another wonderful time of the water with Prince of Whales! Clint “Orcawizard” Please note, all of the photographs are taken with telephoto lenses and are heavily cropped.