Another early start today, as we awoke from our first night in a proper bed in over a month. After finally dragging ourselves from our newfound comfort, we got ready and headed out to Granville Island and the start of today's activity - whale watching!
We checked into the office and were fitted into our "element-proof" clothing - big, bulky suits that made us look like ghostbusters. We boarded our boat, and with about 10 or so others on board, set off to the location where a superpod of Killer Whales had been spotted. We were told that this consisted of the three separate pods of resident Killer Whales that were known in the area, and that their meeting in the same place was quite a rarity.
Our journey took us south-west, across the Strait of Georgia and through the Gulf Islands. It even briefly went through US waters. As soon as we set off, the heavens opened and we were worried that we'd have a repeat performance of the weather for our bear viewing. Thankfully, it didn't last. Along the route to see the Killer Whales we were given a few glimpses of the notoriously shy Harbour Porpoises that jumped out of the water just as we happened to be looking in the right direction, and a few Sea Otters whose heads could be seen poking out of the water.
We didn't linger to look at the wildlife en route, and instead rushed to the bay where the superpod had been sighted. On arriving, it wasn't long before we saw the first group of dorsal fins poking out through the water. As we got closer, some of these began to break the surface and allowed us to see their full bodies. A couple of time some of the more excitable ones leapt through the air and barrelled onto their sides which we were lucky enough to photograph.
Unknown to us before now, we learned that Killer Whales aren't actually whales at all but dolphins. Their name comes from a lost-in-translation description - 'Killer of Whales'. We also learned that their more pleasant term - Orca - comes from a Latin term for them which roughly means 'black fish from the pits of the underworld'!
As our captain led us up and down the water in careful pursuit of these creatures, we were also told about the occupants of another nearby boat who were out on a research expedition with a dog (a black lab); they had trained it to sniff out the smell of whale poo that they were collecting to study.
It wasn't long before our hour of viewing was over and we had to begin our return journey. This time, we stopped on the way to view a group of seals that were lazing about on rocks. One of the seals didn't seem to appreciate our interruption and began grunting frantically.
Continuing on, we arrived back in Vancouver in the mid afternoon and departed. We had a quick look around Granville Island (which consisted of a lot of shops and an indoor market), before walking back north towards downtown, and returned to our hotel.
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