Prince of Whales

Before leaving the Vancouver area we planned to do a trip we couldn’t do the last time we were in town…..Whale watching! And WOW the ‘Prince of Whales’ tour company did not disappoint! We set off at 08:30 from Granville Island on a huge catamaran heading out into the Strait of Georgia (the Strait of Georgia is an arm of the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the extreme southwestern mainland coast of British Columbia).

It was chilly and smokey to start but we had high hopes of seeing some wildlife and after about 45mins we came across two separate small pods of Humpback whales communicating with each other by slapping their pectoral fins, it was fascinating to watch this visual display of communication. After about an hour the Captain had heard that there were other whales in the area so we set off in search of them and after 20mins we were astounded to see two separate pods of transient Killer whales! There were a combination of adults and calves and after some time watching them it became obvious they were hunting harbour seals and the adults were teaching the calves how to hunt, kill and eat their prey. It was an incredible experience to witness nature at work. Once the Killer Whales finally disappeared from view we made our way across the Strait to view a raft of resident Sea Lions….these creatures are fascinating to watch; they are loud and very, very smelly! Finally we were treated to an up close view of Point Atkinson Lighthouse.

After our trip we were starving so it was only fitting we had a fishy lunch on Granville Island and then a long walk to work it off and say farewell to beautiful Vancouver.