Orcas from Victoria??
 

We are planning to head all the way to Port McNeill this week to catch the final orca tour of the season. But today we met a couple who said they saw "dozens" of oracas last fall on a boat trip just 10 minutes off the coast of Victoria. I'm kind of wondering why (aside from the "adventure factor") we're driving so far if we can see orcas so much more easily from Victoria. I realize the experience in the north part of Vancouver Island would be far more unique, but we are doing a lot of driving already and would like to know the truth about the Victoria orcas situation (in early October).

Thanks!

There are a lot of whale watching tour companies in Victoria this website has daily reports of sightings
http://www.princeofwhales.com/
Why don't you contact them and see what the chances are for the time you are there. It would save you a lot of driving and I know someone who monitors the pods out of Victoria and it was quite active up to a week ago.

Chances of seeing killer whales are better from Port McNeill, and the Victoria area pods are stressed and not doing well. Some interesting research on this recently.

There is no guarantee at either location but the north island does have many advantages.

Jerry

The landscape in Port McNeill is nicer than in Victoria. That's for me the main reason doing whale whatching trips in the northern part of Vancouver Island. You have the chance to view also other wildlife on such a trip. We saw on our trip from Port McNeill not only Orcas, but also other whales, bald eagles and black bears.

From what I have read is, that whale-whachting prime time is May and June for Orca-viewing trips starting from Victoria. Keep in mind that the Orcas follow their main food (salmon) and their location can change depending on the salmon run. The time and location of the main salmon stream can differ from year to year.

Anyone want to guess why the orcas are stressed in the Victoria area? Can you say "whale watching"?

That's certainly part of it. Toxin levels have been found to be very high in some of these animals as well.

Jerry

And Victoria still dumps raw sewage into the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Well, I'm reading all these replies to my question from the Black Bear "Resort" (it's a nice motel) in Port McNeill. We drove up from Campbell River this morning to board the Stubbs Harbor boat at 1 pm. Got there and they said, uh, sorry...they gave away our seats (something about discovering old phone messages from other people). So we're going tomorrow with McKay out of Port McNeill. A bald eagle flew over head as we were in this motel's parking lot, so score one already. :-)

MacKays are much better than Stubbs. You got lucky.

Jerry