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| Granville Island Public Market |
Our continuing search for Orcas
began when we were picked up in a taxi at 8am and taken to Granville island. We stocked up with a tasty breakfast wrap and
coffee at a local cafe before signing in with the whale watching company at 915am. They suggested grabbing some lunch provisions
at the public market on the quay. Our
breakfast may have been tasty but it was nothing compared to this amazing
market, full of tasty looking local produce. Definitely a great place to go for food and
gifts if you’re ever in the city.
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| The view across the harbour to the City with the False Creek Ferry tiny taxi boats |
At 945am we boarded our boat. We had selected a partially covered rigid
boat today, instead of the RIB version and wow, were we grateful?! There were approximately 15 passengers and 3
crew. The company estimate between 3 and 7 hours out at sea – basically they
stay out and keep searching for orcas for as long as it takes, which was
encouraging.
We headed out of the harbour and
south towards US waters. They warned us
not to sit at the front if you have any back or neck issues or if you are not a
fan of roller-coasters as that is where the motion of the boat is the most severe. Well, they weren’t wrong – going at speed,
the boat started banging violently into the waves. It’s hard to explain exactly how rough and
unpredictable it was because the videos I tried to take are unwatchable! Our hosts advised us to hold onto the railings, stand up and bend our knees to cushion
the impact and avoid jarring our back or neck. Ashley our main ‘carer’ said this was a lot
worse than usual and they wouldn’t normally choose to put us through such an
'ordeal'! But a lot of the time, the four
of us were in stitches with giggles as we hung on for dear life! Simon even
went right down the front to maximise the experience (but he was suffering for it the next day).
The captain was in contact with
other whale boats and after about 45 minutes we were told that there were
reports of Orcas ahead. We continued
towards the area and everyone was relieved when we slowed down to have a break
from the crashing around. Then we became
spotters as we were told the direction that the group of Orcas had last been
seen in and what to look out for. Jo won today's spotter competition when she saw pair of tall dorsal fins coming towards
us out of the water. It is a bizarre spectacle
and totally different from any other whales/dolphins we’ve seen. The incredibly slim and tall dorsal fins of
these amazing creatures are up to 2 metres high for the males, slightly shorter
for the females. We had finally found
our Orcas in the wild:
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| That must be what our boat roughly looked like from their perspective |
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| Important point - Orca's are NOT whales.... despite us being on a whale watch to find them... they are the largest member of the dolphin family. |
The next hour or so was spent
following the group as closely as legally allowed attempting to get the best
photos and videos possible. I got some
snaps I am really happy with, especially this spy-hop (below), which is
when they emerge from the water vertically in order to look around them - this was the only one we saw today. If I don’t post enough images then get in touch
– I have at least 50 more pics that I can send to you!
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| Close-up of the spy-hop... because it's that good! |
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| Stellar sea-lions |
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| Some views coming back into Vancouver... |
Back on Granville Island, even
though we were dressed for the sea, we had a wander around and headed to the
Keg bar for happy hour….. and more ice hockey!
We’re getting into this now…so stayed for hours. We had one of those
tipsy conversations about what to do with the rest of the evening and somehow
ended up getting a taxi to a Korean Karaoke bar! It was hilarious. We had intended to get food but just got
carried away in our song booth for two full hours of singing and dancing (and
tambourine!) I really hope that Si lets
me post a video…
We grabbed
a bite to eat before heading back to the RV site in a cab, a bit the worse for
wear. What an amazing day.
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