Ecosummer Expeditions

We still have some super last minute Orca camp trips to offer for this summer! 3 day trip from August 30, 4 day trip from September 01 and 4 day trip from September 08. Join us for once in a lifetime experience. Book at [email protected]! . Instagram @sidocean

An encounter you'll never forget! Up close with our Northern Resident Killer Whales.

8 days until our first guests are heading out to our adventurous Orca Camp! Who's excited? . . @sidocean instagram

We still have some super last minute Orca camp trips to offer for this summer! 3 day trip from August 30, 4 day trip from September 01 and 4 day trip from September 08. Join us for once in a lifetime experience. Book at [email protected]! . Instagram @sidocean

Met humpback whale Inukshuk while kayaking. What a spectacular experience to see him rolling in the kelp!

Ecosummer sends all our love, support, and many years of thanks to this inspiring family of Carmanah! Without them our West Coast Trail tours would never be the same. Thank you Monique and family for all your hard work, determination, and strength! <3 May you both RIP.

8 days until our first guests are heading out to our adventurous Orca Camp! Who's excited? . . @sidocean instagram

New calf for the critically endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales.

Live free, be wild, enjoy your special day.

Happy Easter everyone! . Are you counting the days until summer at Orca camp too?

Very Rare Sighting! Southern Resident Killer Whales In Monterey Bay, 35 critically endangered salmon-eaters from L Pod, including a three-month-old calf (only t...he second time filmed) and several juveniles. They are most often seen in Puget Sound; we first spotted them in Monterey Bay in 2000, last here in 2011. Video with zoom lenses, cropped for detail: by FAA licensed drone pilot Mike Kauffmann. Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more HD videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk6zKJqyD0j4e05nLZ0B53w See more

Northern Resident Orca pods A42s, A35s & A73s as they swam by our beach in July. . . . .... @sidocean See more

Each killer whale pod is able to survive thanks mainly to one member, its most knowledgeable hunter: the grandmother. #ThanksGrandma

[Dear folks, I anticipate some of you will have resistance to what I write below but I have to go there - not to bemoan problems, but in the desperate want for ...positive change.] When will we get it? When?! A science-based decision is made to extend critical habitat for the 74 endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales and what happens? Seventeen British Columbian coastal Chambers of Commerce "unite" in wanting to slow down potential further implementation measures claiming that not enough science has been done. The media release is here www.bcchamber.org//vancouver-island-chambers-unite-protect. I understand the climate of uncertainty I really do when you have a Federal Government that wants a pipeline to go through and is being "assessed" on how it will impact the marine environment. However, we cannot continue in the same way "defending" ourselves against potential fisheries closures and measures to reduce disturbance to the whales, claiming to love the whales and using them as a resource. This is so difficult to articulate but you cannot keep on keeping on and expect things to change for the better, especially in a world that is undergoing climate change. If we change we'll lose jobs, jobs, jobs. Will we? What if we had a transition plan? What if we got ahead of the curve? What if we shed fear and entitlement and embraced precaution and human ingenuity, but not as an exit strategy? Pride and positive ownership can be taken in choosing for more modest takes of salmon i.e. leaving Chinook for the Orca, and in wildlife viewing that reduces stresses to the whales. While we're at it, let's realize we are literally driving climate change and increased large vessel traffic on our coast through our excessive consumerism and demand for fossil fuels and our resistance to change, absence of understanding science, and being manipulated with fear. Further, the idea that salmon enhancement is a panacea defies science, especially in light of climate change and the fact that we are releasing juvenile salmon into a gauntlet of open net-pen salmon farms (which indisputably amplify and transmit disease and parasites). Note too that salmon enhancement facilities are very often beholden to the open net salmon farming industry as funders. Oh what a web we weave . . Precaution is not "let's make sure we have done even more studies and then we'll know for sure." Precaution is the duty to prevent harm, even in the light of uncertainty and this involves urgency, not dragging our heals, gambling with the future. When will we learn to draw a bigger temporal circle around our consideration of economy? When will we truly recognize that the Orca are serving as indicators of environmental health and barometers of our value systems? The ultimate truth is that how we treat the whales will ultimately be how we treat ourselves, especially future generations. We are all consumers and voters here. We are all empowered to influence change. Photo: Member of the endangered Southern Residents in Blackfish Sound, Jackie Hildering. From the news release "VANCOUVER ISLAND CHAMBERS UNITE TO PROTECT MARINE-BASED TOURISM FOLLOWING FEDERAL SRKW CRITICAL HABITAT ZONE EXTENSION" "In an effort to protect their communities, the Chambers of Alberni Valley, Bamfield, Campbell River, Chemainus & District, Comox Valley, Duncan-Cowichan, Ladysmith, Greater Nanaimo, Parksville & District, Port Hardy, Port McNeill & District, Port Renfrew, Qualicum Beach, Sooke, Tofino-Long Beach, Ucluelet and WestShore have united to form a coalition called Thriving Orcas, Thriving Coastal Communities. . . . As British Columbians who are now concerned about the survival of our own businesses and communities, we urge the federal government to slow down the implementation of any additional management measures, take the time to get the science right and engage coastal stakeholders, said Ablack. Potential restrictive management measures, such as a fin fish closure, that are based on faulty data and limited science could end up destroying our communities and do nothing to help the orcas. On the other hand, a carefully considered multi-faceted approach that includes deeper investments in restoration, enhancement, science and monitoring could ensure that orcas and coastal communities thrive together as we have for generations.

Getting into camp late because we had to stop for orcas is simply the best excuse ever don't you think? . This is Northern Resident Orca A61 "Surge" followed by some Pacific White sided dolphins. Taken while on the way to our beautiful Orca camp in summer. #tbt