The day we left Victoria also happened to be the day of the
2018 Victoria Dragon Boat Festival in Victoria Harbour. The dragon boats began racing at 8:00 a.m. and would continue all day until about 4:30 p.m., so getting out of Causeway Floats between a race (every 11 minutes) took a little bit of planning with harbour security.
We got instructions and an escort for part of the way across the harbour and then continued out of the harbour the normal way (keeping close to the big yellow buoys) and then headed for Anacortes.
Once out in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, we had a bit current against us at first, and eventually we had
quite a bit of current against us — 4+ knots! We powered up for a while until it started to subside.
South of San Juan Island (between Hein Bank and Salmon Bank, off of San Juan Island) we spotted a couple of whale watching boats and some spouts, so we wandered over there for a bit to watch the orcas (some J Podders, I believe).
There were quite a few orcas–maybe 6 or 7– in a group together, and then several other individuals hanging out on their own or in twos. They were breaching, tail-slapping, and spy-hopping, but we kept our distance and just got a few photos from afar.
We’re back in Anacortes for the week doing boat chores and getting ready for the next flotilla. Airship’s getting washed and waxed as I write, and we’re looking forward to the next adventure!
