Wale & Arrival in Sydney

On my second day in Victoria, I decided to do a whale watching tour. I booked the tour through my hostel as they have partnerships and I had to pay less. At 12:30 pm, we received a briefing and a special suit. It kept the wind and water out and also served as our life jacket. Half an hour later, eight of us were in the speedboat and off we went. The sea was extremely calm and we had a great view. It was partly cloudy but the sun kept peeking through.

Our captain was around 50 years old. We were in constant communication with other boats, informing each other about whale sightings. After about 30 minutes, we saw the first whales. There were about 4 of them, each surfaced for about a minute to breathe and then dove underwater again for 10 minutes. They were quite far away and it was difficult to determine which direction they were swimming. So our captain decided to go to another spot. Unfortunately, we waited there in vain, so we then went to a small island with a lighthouse and countless sea lions. The noise and the smell were accordingly...

We were informed that it was already the end of the season, so we would only see a few whales. The tour was supposed to last 3 hours and 2 ½ hours had already passed, so I had given up hope of seeing more whales. Just as we were about to start the return trip and were at the back of the island with the lighthouse, we saw a relatively young whale. Two sea lions were playing with him, swimming around him and sometimes jumping. He never dived very deep and was even only 5 meters away from us at one point. So I took countless pictures and videos there and then we headed back.

We arrived back at the harbor at half past 4. I had dressed as warmly as if I were going skiing, but on the water, it was about -5 degrees Celsius with the wind, so I had to warm up first.

Afterwards, I took the bus and went to the north of Vancouver Island, to Sidney. I had rented an Air BnB there for two nights and I was quite grateful to have some privacy for the first time on my trip.