Orca pod cruises through Victoria’s Inner Harbour during hour-long visit
VICTORIA — A pod of killer whales has made a rare appearance in Victoria’s Inner Harbour, frolicking not far from the British Columbia legislature on Thursday.
The group of four or five orcas, including a large male and what appeared to be a calf, spent about an hour touring the harbour, bringing vessel traffic to a halt and delaying floatplane activity.
Jackie Cowan lives aboard a boat in the harbour and says she was listening to marine radio chatter about a pod of killer whales in Juan de Fuca Strait and then suddenly heard the Transport Canada patrol vessel ordering the harbour cleared.
Cowan, who is a member of Victoria’s Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue Station 35 and a captain for a local whale-watching company, says she realized that meant the animals were entering the narrow waterway.