This Is Our Backyard...Welcome to the Westcoast

You know you’re a westcoster…

• If you wear a hood in the rain…
• If you use Americanos for a heat source…
• If you are always amazed — but not surprised by what you may encounter only 20-minutes from your home

This is Vancouver Island. Where wildlife and “not-so-wildlife” come together in an incredible package here. Where your backyard may have soft grass and apple trees, but frequent visits from deer, cougars, raccoons or the odd bear. If you jump in your car and drive straight into the woods for an hour and it gets even more wild. Wolves, more bears, eagles and an infinite national geographic journal of creatures are living it up westcoast style.

So when you hop in a boat and head off for an hour into the big blue of the Salish Sea….this is what you may see.

Now, I consider myself a westcoaster — but I was missing one thing — I had never been whale watching in 20+ years living on the coast. So we finally made it official and booked a trip early September (wicked birthday present).

Our whale watching expedition went out at 10am with Eagle Wing Whale Watching Tours on their catamaran — a beautiful vessel equipped with washrooms (phew) and jackets for all, and naturally all the safety gear. The crew included skipper & naturalist Chris, naturalists Casey, Val and Sydney and a photographer – Clint Rivers. You couldn’t find a happier crew, that are more stoked about what they do for a living. The crew also had tricks for seasickness that was a factor for some of us, especially when sitting in the Salish Sea swells.

We soaked up a 4.5 hour dream-like experience of watching the most revered mammals, Transient and Resident Killer Whales — and Humpback Whales plus seabirds, seals and sea lions. Our adventure began cruising out past Race Rocks, a place I’ve always wanted to see close up. The boat clipped out to the waters just off of East Sooke Park where the Resident Orcas were having a snack. They were popping up all around us and it was overwhelming to see so many Killer Whales, that I’d only ever glimpsed from a great distance on a BC Ferry.

The skippers radio went off again and everyone on the boat began buzzing about Transient Orca’s in the area. After another 15 min with the wind in our hair, the skipper stopped the boat. We could immediately hear the sounds of Humpback whales trumpeting. Our naturalist was beside herself with excitement. This was her first time witnessing a group of Humpback whales in “protection mode” from Killer Whales. The Transients (T-100’s) were hunting a sea lion that was getting knocked around a bit, considering it’s a 2,500lb creature, that’s no small feat. The Humpbacks however, were offering protection to the sea lion — so this was an epic encounter.

All you could do was sit and watch and of course, snap photos. After about an hour, it appeared the sea lion had escaped, we weren’t sure if there was another one involved, so the Orcas may have had lunch there — either way, we had an unforgettable experience.

This video is mostly about the audio. Got to go whale watching for the first time today and was enchanted by this sound of the humpbacks trumpeting. #whalewatching #humpbacks #salishsea #victoriabc #eastsookepark #westcoast #pnw #touristinyourowntown #vancouverisland #beautifulbc #letsgosomewhere #ewt5sept2016 @eaglewingtours

A video posted by Mel Z (@melzsnaps) on Sep 12, 2016 at 12:41am PDT

More photos here:

Regardless of whether or not you are a “westcoaster”, you leave a whale watching expedition with a reverence for these incredible animals that live in our backyard.

More information on conservation here.

Mel Z – Midday Show 10am – 3pm on Ocean 98.5