Few wildlife encounters are as thrilling as coming face to face with an Orca (Orcinus orca) in the wild. On our trips to Vancouver Island, Canada, we joined local whale-watching tours through the Salish Sea and were fortunate enough to see killer whales again and again — often in surprisingly large numbers.
The waters around Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands are one of the best places in the world to observe orcas in their natural habitat. Both fish-eating resident pods and transient Bigg’s killer whales that hunt marine mammals pass through these channels, so every outing carries its own element of surprise.
Photographing orcas from a small boat is a game of patience and timing — watching for a distant blow, then waiting for the moment a dorsal fin breaks the surface, a tail slaps the water, or a whale spyhops to take a look around. On clear days, the snow-capped peak of Mount Baker rising in the distance made for a truly spectacular backdrop.
The images below capture some of these encounters — from close surfacing shots to dramatic spyhops and tail slaps against the mountains of the Salish Sea.
Every image in this gallery is a result of patience, timing, and a deep respect for the natural world. If you’d like to see more, visit my complete portfolio of high-quality captures.