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Towering six feet, its height tells you it belongs to a bull killer whale. As you reach for your camera, the charter operator maneuvers the boat away from the oncoming whale, one in several pods living in the waters off Victoria. Like all charter operators, this one is following a self-imposed set of rules that govern the burgeoning whale watching business. Among other things, those rules include staying a certain distance from the whale, letting the whale come to the boat (if it chooses), not moving the boat to the whale. The orca passes the boat, the mist from his blowhole speckling the lens of your camera. Off in the distance the rest of the pod - like all, governed by the dominant female - trail the bull. Their quarry: salmon. As you lean over the boat's side for a better view, an underwater listening device picks up the whales' squeals and squeaks, broadcasting them over a loudspeaker. Used for both finding fish and communication, the sounds are intriguingly haunting.
As you head into shore you're fellow passengers relate tales of gray whale watching on the west coast of Vancouver Island. It was April when they were there, right at the height of the whales' annual 10,000-mile migration from Baja California to their summer feeding grounds off Alaska. Barnacle covered and slow-moving, the grays can be seen off Ucluelet, Bamfield and Tofino. As you travel up island, the images remain fresh in your memory.
At Telegraph Cove, on Johnstone Strait, you book another charter. Your charter operator informs you that the Strait - a narrow body of water where the whales gather to feast on salmon - is probably the best place in the world to view these magnificent mammals. The Strait is also home to a protected killer whale reserve, an area where the whales have a peculiar habit of rubbing themselves on the rocks in the estuary of the Tsitika River. The Robson Bight (Michael Bigg) Ecological Reserve, named in honor of Dr. Michael Bigg
who conducted research in the Strait and added greatly to our knowledge of killer whales,
attracts thousands of tourists each year. As you fill yourself with the supplied
sandwiches, hot coffee and desserts a pod of whales passes between your boat and a group
of kayakers headed down the Strait. On the other side of the boat a huge cruise ship
steams north, taking its hundreds of passengers to Alaska. Earlier, an old freight passed
by, its towering sides streaked with rust. With daylight fading, you head back into
Telegraph Cove with one whale of a tale! |
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Twenty
meters off the boat, the black dorsal fin rises above the surface. 
For the next three hours the whales entertain
you with their spyhopping (raising their heads above the surface for a good look around),
tail slapping and, it was your lucky day - a full breach, literally a jump right out of
the water. The huge black-and-white body slaps against the surface - and you've got it on
film! 
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