A pod of orcas gave a local father and son the memories of a lifetime while they worked on their boat near Horseshoe Bay.
Daily Hive reader Lionel Jensen shared footage of the orcas breaching just metres from them at Sewell’s Marina in West Vancouver.
According to Lionel, they were putting the engine back into their sailboat when they were alerted to the whales nearby.
“One of the marina staff spotted the orcas first,” Lionel told Daily Hive. “I saw her running down the dock. I thought there might be a fire, I looked for smoke and instead saw the spray from a whale blowing.
“We ran up onto the floating concrete breakwater to get a better view. I’ve only seen orcas once before, and briefly, so this was surreal.”
The Jensens had just recently arrived home from completing the Race to Alaska aboard their 1981 Yamaha 30-1 named Periwinkle.
Lionel Jensen/Submitted
In a video filmed by Lionel, orcas can be seen blowing air as they pass by and under the dock. The pod explored the inlet for approximately 22 minutes and may even have been hunting for food.
“My Dad Randy has spent a lot more time on the water than me,” Lionel explained. He’s had a few encounters with orcas while sailing, but nothing like this. Running alongside the whales on the breakwater and watching them dive below us was incredible.
“He thought they might have been after fish because we didn’t see seals coming up for air, trying to escape, but someone on Instagram recognized this pod and told me they would have been after seals.”
Lionel Jensen/Submitted
It has been a busy time of year for orca sightings in Metro Vancouver. A man in Vancouver recently caught a thrilling glimpse of a pod of orcas swimming in the Burrard Inlet near the Lions Gate Bridge.
And earlier this spring, a pod of orcas gave a Metro Vancouver dragon boat team a whale of a memory during a paddle on Burrard Inlet.