Orca pod surfaces from right underneath sightseeing boat

A leisurely day out on a whale watching got extremely exciting very quickly. After a few hours cruising around trying to locate the Humpback and Orca whales that were being talked about on the marine radio, the time had come for some close up activity. Earlier in the day the group on the excursion had departed from Anacortes, Washington. After aboard, safety briefings done, the captain fired the engines and away they went. Slowly departing the marina, the crew notified the tourists aboard that they would actually be heading into Canadian waters as that was where the whales were currently being spotted.Show more

Sitting back and enjoying the beautiful summer day, Brent and his wife found a comfy seat and took in some sun. Once nearing Vancouver Island the captain notified everyone that there was a solo Humpback whale just ahead. This stirred everyone's curiosity as most aboard had never seen a whale before in the wild. "Watching the Humpback breach the surface, arch its back then sound to the depths was very peaceful but exhilarating" Brent said. After a short time enjoying the Humpback ,they all scooted south to another location where Orca had been spotted. Now things really got exciting. Seeing a small pod of whales that appeared to have some young orca with them was amazing. Suddenly another pod was located approximately a half mile away which seemed to be swimming in circles. This footage was recorded right at this location.

The captain explained how orca hunt and how they train their young. Mainly feeding on fish and seals as they provide a very high in fat meal, the whales being to circle, then contact the seals with their flukes(tail) or actually pounce atop the seals. After some training, the hunt was over. Adult orca, or killer whales, eat between 150 pounds and 300 pounds of fish or seal per day. This requires a good part of a day to accomplish at times, all dependent on the time of year. The orca can become quite ingenious on their hunting skills and do at times work together to track and hunt schools of fish or pod of seals.