Whenever we are fortunate enough to come upon a large pod of pacific white sided dolphins I am not sure who has the most fun, my guests or the dolphins. The dolphins leap out of the water doing flips, ride the bow wave, follow along side the boat and nose up within a meter of the boat’s prop. While doing all this the guest get great shots of water, air and even some that contain dolphins. More than once I have had guest say that the dolphins make the day.
These small chunky cetaceans have black and white markings that give them the appearance of a mini Killer Whale / Orca. There have been reports by people mistaking Dall’s porpoises for baby Orca, but the lack of white eye patches and a much smaller dorsal fin is definitely a Dall’s.
Dall’s Porpoise travel in small groups of two to eight animals rarely in larger groups of around twenty-five. They zip about quickly in random back and forth patterns looking for food. As they speed through the water, they throw a rooster tail type of splash. This is quite distinctive as they shoot along just below the surface of the ocean. They are known to travel at around 30 knots (56 kph or 35 mph). With all this speed it can be a challenge getting good photos. For this reason we often stop and they will make passes by the boat and sometimes we get lucky. They are very playful and are at times known to harass humpback whales see tomorrows post…..
These two photos show some thing that is pretty obvious but if you are much further away it is hard to tell what is making the white water. Pacific white sided dolphins may travel in pods of twenty-five to over one thousand. In either case they seem to like playing with a moving boat. After guest spend time with the dolphins it is hard to make their day get any better but we keep trying.
Dall’s porpoises are speed demons reaching speeds up to 55 km/hr. They suddenly appear out of nowhere and disappear the same way. Although they ride in both bow and stern wakes of boats, they seldom stay for very long. Next to impossible to get a photo if you are moving but frequently if the boat stops suddenly while they are playing they will come to investigate and it is possible to get “under water” photos. The white in the corner of the photo is the edge of our boat.
Peder and Ann again capture the activity on one of their days from their visit in July, 2015. For me as a guide and I know from the guest comments this is one of the highlights of a day on the water – a group of Pacific White-sided Dolphins. Such a clear and sharp photo emphasizes the speed of these dolphins as they keep pace with our boat. The Marine Mammal Watching Guidelines say we are to stay one hundred meters from the dolphins but unfortunately or fortunately depending on your point of view the dolphins cannot read.
From Oxford Journals “Porpoising is the popular name for the high-speed surface piercing motion of dolphins and other species, in which long, ballistic jumps are alternated with sections of swimming close to the surface. The first analysis of this behavior (Au and Weihs, 1980) showed that above a certain “crossover” speed this behavior is energetically advantageous, as the reduction in drag due to movement in the air becomes greater than the added cost of leaping.”
Or Porpoising Definition – Birding and Wild Birds – About.com (verb) The act of leaping in and out of the water in a short, shallow arc while swimming.
Just like that another season has come to an end. We are grateful for all the wonderful staff and the guests this season. It was an excellent season and we are already looking forward to next May.
One of the highlights of the season was all of the new cubs out. It was awesome to see so many new cubs of the year and that is great news for our bear populations moving forward. We had great spring viewing and this continued through summer. On our river trips we started to see salmon arriving in August and enjoyed some great shoulder season viewing. The fish at the viewing platforms were a little late showing up this year, but viewing during late September at the platforms was great and the estuary viewing remained strong throughout the season.
Out in the whale watching world it was another year that saw large numbers of resident Orca who remained in the area right into October. The Humpback viewing was also great with large numbers feeding in Blackfish Sound. It is so amazing to have these magnificent animals back in our waters in such numbers.
Over the winter and spring we will be doing some repairs and maintenance. We rebuilt the front deck last spring, utilising cedar cut on site. We will continue with some siding, rooms improvements and hopefully a floating sauna ready for the start of our season.
2026 is already looking like a very busy season for us. We only have limited high season availability so please book early to ensure we have space for your group.
Looking forward to seeing you next year
Angus Reid
Visit our Blog