Dancing with the dolphins and other marine adventures

Picture this:  It is late September. After five days of nonstop rain, several campervan problems, potholed logging roads,  and itinerary changes, the day finally dawns to the promise of mixed sun, cloud, light wind, light showers.  

And so....off we go, to catch a ride on one of the last whale tours of the season offered by a reputable company operating  for the summer out of Telegraph Cove.  Covid precautions are strict - a limited number of passengers, all wearing masks all the time (even on deck), multiple hand sanitation stations on the small boat and instructions to use them every 30 minutes. 

After on-ground instruction, the small group of us board the boat, and we cast off, one of the local dogs peering over the rail to bid us farewell. We're on an adventure - and what an adventure it was!

We hadn't gone far before we saw the first sighting - the blow from a whale, as the large grey humpback emerged from the water.  

The captain immediately slowed the boat and turned off the engine while we were still a long distance away - almost too far for my 30x zoom to reach. 

[As an aside: I had been hesitant to do the tour as I had witnessed first hand how disrespectful and disruptive some whale tours are.  In a hike this spring further down island  Sally and I had been having lunch on the bank of  Dodds Narrows when we spied a pod of about 6 whales just about to head into the narrows, where they would pass right by us.  Before I could even get the camera out, numerous whale boats appeared from both directions, racing against the flow of water directly toward the whales, ignoring all regulations regarding distancing, and corralling them for the sake of giving their customers a closer look.  The whales turned tail and swam quickly back in the direction they had come.  I was disgusted by the various tours' actions. 

Such was not the case on this tour.  All afternoon, at any sighting of wildlife, the engine was shut right off and we just drifted on the water, enjoying the peace, the views, and the marine mammals and birds.   And the same was true of other boaters in the area - we only saw two other boats,  and both shut off their engines and kept a respectful distance from all wildlife.] 

Often the whales, sea lions and dolphins swam right up to our drifting boat, checking us out as they dove under and over each other.  After they had moved on, the captain restarted the engine and we slowly sailed along until, in the distance, we saw more marine life and stopped once again. 

The most gob-smacking, awe-inspiring, breathtaking, mesmerizing, heart-stopping experience had to be the dancing dolphins.  There were at least a hundred of them - white-sided dolphins flying through the air, leaping over and under each other , like a beautifully choreographed dolphin version of Swan Lake. Never in my life have I seen anything so incredible. It was hard to capture good photos -  I was so  completely entranced with them that at times I could do nothing but watch, camera forgotten in my hand. 

Some came close to the boat, bursting out of the water with such speed that I missed the shot, and at other times circling around like sharks in the movies.

And then there were the whales - we saw at least a dozen, all humpbacks.  The marine biologists on board were able to identify some by name, from their tail markings in particular.  This one was named Argonaut:

If you google his name and "humpback" you will find several links with information about him - he has been a regular around the island for several years.  In fact, you can even sponsor him  through the Marine Education and Research Society , and there are even a couple of fictionalized books about him and his family - the first of two (so far - it looks to become a series) can be found here.

The whales, like the dolphins, were fascinating to watch - they would rise like a great grey submarine, float along for awhile, then the body would hump, twist, and dive, often scattering any fish, dolphins, birds, or other marine life in its way.  Humpbacks have baleen plates rather than teeth - around four hundred thin plates that hang down from the upper jaw and filter incoming water (which is then expelled through the blowhole) leaving the krill and small fish behind to continue the journey through the digestive system. They do not eat seals or dolphins like some whales do, just teeny little seafood hors d'oeuvres!  In this series of shots I took, you can see the whale preparing to dive and then displacing other sea life:

Preparing to dive

Here's a larger one of that displacement:

We didn't just see whales and dolphins, but drifted around among a diversity of  birds and waterfowl, beautiful scenery, some porpoises, seals, and even a sea otter.  I wasn't able to get a good shot of the sea otter or porpoises or even the birds, but at least the scenery stayed in one place while I focused the lens! 

Towards the end of the afternoon, as we headed back to Telegraph Cove, we stopped to watch a colony of sea lions.  They were all ages and sizes - from the very young to the huge male adults.  They were also tons of fun to photograph as they constantly popped up from rocks, made funny faces, and expressed themselves vocally as well.  And it was also hard to get a photo of any one or two sea lions without being photobombed by another!

See the photobomber?

Here I was trying to capture the 'family' - baby and two adults who I thought might be its parents, when who popped up from the rocks but Uncle Fester! 

The kiddie pool - lots of little ones having a swim!

♪ ♪ Oh Sole Mio ♪♪

With the camera on continuous shoot, I was able to capture a few things that I'd missed with the human eye.  My favourite was this little interaction between a young sea lion and a much bigger adult - the dad perhaps? (My camera shoots 10 frames per second on continuous shoot, so these shots are just a fraction of a second apart)

Do you see what happened here?  The big guy gave the little one a kiss! And in the third frame, there's
a hilarious photobomber just above the little one's head. 

We bid the sea lions goodbye, but nobody waved back.  

There was one other mesmerizing and awe-inspiring event that afternoon.  It was one of those days where the lighting constantly changed - stormy clouds, blue sky, cotton clouds, grey sky....and sudden showers during sunbursts led to continual rainbows that followed us the whole afternoon, rainbows peeking out behind picturesque islands, rainbows arching from island to island, broad shafts of rainbow plummeting into the sea, rainbow-encrusted clouds hovering just above the ocean.  

The rainbows held special meaning to me that day.  My dear friends Del and Mark had just four days earlier laid to rest their beautiful Molly-Dawg, aka Princess Molly, who never failed to make me smile when we had the opportunity to visit. 

While I am not generally given to flights of fancy, I felt Molly's spirit telling me she had reached the Rainbow Bridge, to please let her mom and dad let her know she was well, she was free, she could run like a pup, and her old pals , including King,  were there running with her. She said it was everything that her mom promised her it would be.  I was profoundly moved and as soon as I was able upon return to camp, I messaged Del to let her know.  The constant rainbows, the symbolism, the sense of peace as I thought of Molly and King and of my own dogs who had passed, moved me just as the sight of the dolphins dancing had thrilled me.  Such strong emotions, such spiritual experience. 

It was truly a day to remember, a day full of unique experiences, a day desperately needed after five days of rain and vehicle woes, a day on which one is grateful to be alive, to be so immersed in nature, to live in such an amazing part of the world. 

And it was on that note that our camping trip came to an abrupt end, for the very next day my camping and hiking buddy, Sally, tripped over a log in camp and received a severely broken ankle - one which required surgery with pins and plates and which will keep her off the hiking trails for many months.  In fact it is only this week, almost three months after our day on the waters, that she will be allowed to fully weight bear.  She ended up in hospital, I drove the campervan back home.  The rest of our north island tour will have to wait for another time. But the day dancing with the dolphins and watching the whales, all in a sky full of rainbows, will never be forgotten.

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[Post script: Once again, I must apologize to followers who are not on facebook and may have missed my photos and stories this past while.  The last three months have been...challenging...for a number of  personal reasons, not the least of which is that  my Maggie was diagnosed with cancer.  Mags underwent surgery to remove a mast cell mammary tumour last week.  I am still awaiting the results of the pathology to find out what stage it was at and whether they got clean edges.  Mast cell is fairly common (as are mammary tumors, though usually in unspayed dogs).  If it is stage 1 or 2, the prognosis can be excellent.  If stage 3, then life expectancy is generally a few short months.  I should have that information some time this week.  Meanwhile, Mags is recovering well, wearing a cute little onesie which is used in place of chest dressings and to prevent any chewing or scratching of her 4" incision. I will keep you posted.  J. ]