Day 26 - Telegraph Cove, Vancouver Island

Today was whale-watching day. It was raining in the morning so I called the tour operator to change my booking to the afternoon tour. Little did I know that in the afternoon it is still going to rain. So I brought my rain jacket with me and my umbrella so that I still can use my video camera. The boat was a medium-sized boat, not a zodiac, so who didn't like rain could sit in the dry but on the expense of a good view. I of course was on the top level getting all the rain, but with a good view on the sea. The fog around the harbor with the rain and clouds together was quite misty when we left.

We didn't need too much time to see the first pod of Orcas, or killer whales if you like. Telegraph Cove is one of the best points in the world to watch for Orcas because there are both resident and transient Orcas here. Chances are you will see the resident ones. Resident Orcas live mostly in this area and transient Orcas just travel through here during their usual migration cycle. As I learned the two types have a very distinctive feeding habit. Their were plenty of Orcas to watch and they were not too far away from the boat so you could clearly see them. I also filmed a full breach. They seemed pretty playful, sometimes swimming on their back and striking heavily with their tail fins.

Later on we have spotted a humpback whale but you couldn't see too much of it other than its hump and tail fin emerging from the water. They tend to dive deep and stay there when a boat is in the near. There was also a sealion head sticking out of the water at one point.

Coming back from the tour I continued my road north on Vancouver Island with destination Port Hardy. I skipped Cape Scott Provincial Park as it was raining heavily all day long and I have to get up early tomorrow to be at the ferry station 5:30am.