Whale watching, gotta love it! March - July ‘08

Well hello friends around the globe,

Yes it is me Tim, and yes I do realise it has been an extremely bloody long time since I have written, and the reason being is because I’ve been working. Yep! ‘Bout bloody time I hear you cry! I’m working for a company called ‘Orca Spirit Adventures’ here in Victoria (check them out at www.orcaspirit.com), and it’s going really really well. They’re a great company, with 2 covered passenger boats (45-70 pax capacity) and 2 open zodiacs (12 pax capacity). I’m primarily employed as a marine naturalist, so I take passengers out with the Captain (and another naturalist depending on how many passengers we have) and basically talk about the awesome marine life, landmarks and some history of the region. I’m really enjoying it ‘cos I get to meet people from all over the world, I get to be out on the water and most importantly, I get to see and educate people about marine mammal life. Being mid July as I write this the season is well underway and at its busiest. My first trip was at Easter, and I’ve been getting more and more trips each week as the weather has gotten better and the more people are around. The resident orca pods have returned and so we have just under 90 individuals between 3 pods, J, K and L (A-I pod are up on the north end of Vancouver Island as part of the Northern Resident Community) and the ones we get here are part of the Southern Resident Community, basically southern Vancouver Island and San Juan Islands (USA). These orcas are found in these waters from April to October as they are feeding on the migrating salmon that are going to the various rivers of mainland British Columbia and northern Washington State. We’ve identified them all and know families and pod structure so I’m getting much better at ID-ing the animals when we see them. We call these fish-eating killer whales “Residents” because they reside here for most of the summer months. We do in fact get another type of orca here, they’re mammal-eating killer whales and we call them “Transients” because although we get them in these waters all year round, you never know when or where they’re going to show up. They travel in much smaller pods (1-8 individuals) and feed on seals, sea lions, porpoises, and other smaller whales. So this type of year you have the chance to see either type, it’s bloody awesome! The “species richness” of marine mammal life here is just unbelievable, and I’m loving every moment of it. To travel less than an hour in any direction from Victoria Harbour and see animals like orca (mammal-eaters and fish-eaters), Dall’s porpoises, Harbour porpoises, Harbour seals, Northern Sea Lions (aka Stellar Sea Lions), Californian Sea Lions, Northern Elephant Seals, Minke whales, Grey whales and Humpback whales is absolutely amazing. I write blogs for my trips and post photos when I get good ones or passengers get good ones so to see what the trips are like go to the website www.orcaspirit.com and click on the ‘Whale Sightings Blog’ link on the left-hand side toolbar . Some (actually most) have been written by yours truly, as we are required to write one for every trip, so check ‘em out! And the pics as well! They’ve actually been really impressed with my blog writing so I’ve set a very high standard for myself for the season (not like me at all I know). I’m not paid any extra to write these blogs and I guess because they’ve taken up some of my spare time it’s why I haven’t written to you all in three months. I do get pretty excited most of the time when seeing these animals and it shows in my blogs so I strongly urge you all to read them to see the kind of experiences I’ve been having here. Passengers have actually chosen our company because of the blogs so I like to think I helped get the business, at least somewhat anyway. Not to toot my own horn but they are really impressed with my work ethic and how I deal and interact with passengers, and of course being an Aussie I work that angle. Now I’ll be honest, in no way is this a money-making job, in-fact, far from it, and although we don’t tip back home it is pretty much customary in North America so I’m kinda relying on tips to help me save so I can travel and get home after the season is done in early October. Still, the experience is unbelievable and I am getting paid to be out on the water and to see and talk about whales almost everyday. Pretty sweet gig!
I’ve also just started work as a zodiac driver (10m, 12 pax vessel) as that’s also what I want to be doing over the summer. It’s been a bit of a journey getting hours logged, courses done and a lot of practice and exams but I’m finally certified and have done a few solo trips that have gone bloody well. On the website you can check out the boats I drive, they’re a lot of fun! Extremely safe and manoeuvrable, and I get to give the passengers MY experience and go where I wanna go, position how I want to position. Operating these boats and learning navigation and weather is a fantastic skill that I can utilise throughout my career, whatever I end up doing. I have much more responsibility as the lives of 12 passengers are in my hands, but it’s a challenge that I’m up for. I have the marine animal knowledge (always reading and learning more though of course!), so now expanding my boat and navigation knowledge is where my focus is. Being a boy from the country it’s interesting that I love being out on the water and know this is where I want to spend the rest of my life. On the water that is, not in Canada! Don’t get me wrong, this part of the world really is breath-taking, but Australia is my home and that’s where I want to settle down. I want to utilise my skills to help the Australian marine environment, but I’m enjoying my time and the experience here while I’m in this beautiful part of the world. Orcas really are amazing creatures so to be able to observe these animals almost every day really is rewarding. If only we had orcas back home….

My plan thus far is to work here for the remainder of the season until early October and then depending on how much I can save will determine what my travel plans are after that. I plan to hire a car and check out Vancouver Island, head right up the northern end and all around, as I hear it’s even more spectacular up there. Then it’s across to Calgary to visit a mate, then down to Miami for Halloween again, then maybe Mexico, then across to England, then back to the States, back to Vancouver and fly home. I plan to be back in Oz in early to mid December and start my Honours in Adelaide in January. I am actually 90% certain I’ll come back here next season, but I’ll only do it for a few months in the peak peak season (mid June to mid Sept), then return to Oz to finish off my Honours. I’m in a very good position to come back next season, and they certainly want me back! We’ll see what happens.

I’m on the ferry as I write this going from Vancouver back to Victoria on Vancouver Island. I’ve just spent the last 2 weeks with Dad and Matt as they were here on holidays before heading across to England to see the fam and then back to Oz via Singapore. It was absolutely bloody fantastic having them over here. We spent the first few days up in Whistler, chilling at a condo owned by a doctor friend of Deano’s. We had all actually stayed there back in December 2005 when we were here last, but of course back then it was covered in snow. It was great to experience Whistler in the summer, as it really is such a gorgeous place and being surrounded by snow-capped mountains is something “us country boys” are not exactly used to. Matt and I went hiking and mountain-biking while Dad and Deano caught up on old times, but we did of course all eat and drink together, and quite a lot I might add. We’re on hols, so it’s allowed. Mountain-biking down Whistler was wicked, and the more I did it the more confident I became and so used the brakes a little less and hit the jumps a little faster and thus got a little more air each time. Good times, definitely wanna do it again. So after Whistler we caught the ferry across to Vancouver Island and I showed Dad and Matt the city and surrounds of where I have been living and working since January. I took them whale watching and what a trip it was. I/we saw the most amount of breaches (where an orca propels its entire body up and out of the water) I had ever seen in one trip. They literally couldn’t have asked for a better whale watching trip. I also took them across to San Juan Island one of the days and showed them where I lived for 3 months and the labs where I was working. They of course checked out Victoria and surrounds and we even went fishing one morning with my boss. We got up at sparrow’s fart and didn’t catch anything mind you, but still it was great being out on the water and managed to take home a few crabs from the crab pots. It was unbelievable how good the weather was while Dad and Matt were here – sunshine every day, so I guess summer is finally here. Thank heavens for that! I’ve only been waiting for over 4 months! Spring here this year was literally non-existent (the coldest on record they tell me) so I’m stoked it’s back to shorts and t-shirt weather. How long this lasts though is anyone’s guess. The three of us headed back to Van for a couple of days and basically ate and drank again, so as I write this I’ve made a vow of detox and cleansing for the next week or so. Poor Dad and Matt have another 10 days of catching up with family and friends in England, which means much food and drink so they’ll need a major detox when returning to the Land Down Under. So as I said I’m on the ferry as I write this, and they fly out from Vancouver in a couple of hours, bound for London. It was bloody terrific having them over here, and so glad they could see and experience what I’ve been up to over here, and meet the people I’ve been talking about from our weekly Skype conversations. This really is a beautiful part of the world, with spectacular scenery, great people, and of course, lots of marine mammals!

Well, hasn’t this blog gone on for a bloody long time. Still, I guess it has been about 4 months since I’ve written so wanna bring you all up to speed on Tim Timmy Timbo’s actions of late. I think I’ve already told you but I’m living in a shared 3br suite right on the edge of downtown Victoria and the 3 of us get along fine. I am of course the cleanest (anally retentive is the term used by some) but those of you that have lived with me will know that’s not hard. The landlords live upstairs and are great, and would certainly love it if I came back next year. Again, we’ll see. So that’s about it from me for a while. The next couple of months are going to be spent working my arse off and saving as much as I can, and all depending on my bank statement at the end of my time here will depend on my travel plans. If only Canadian wage… no, I won’t go there. But I do love it here, I’m getting some great experience and seeing some amazing things, and of course meeting some great people that share the same interests that I do.

Hope everyone is well and that those of you back in the land of Oz are enjoying your winter, cos guess what, I’m certainly enjoying my summer! ;-P I’d love to hear back from any of you when you get a chance, and can’t wait to have a brew or two with you all in the coming months. Stay safe, enjoy life to the fullest, just as I am doing up here in beautiful British Columbia.

Tim, Timmy, Timbo