Intrepid kayaker Bob Turner was sure to bring his video camera with him after a friend told him about a pod of orcas swimming off the shores of Bowen Island.
In the resulting video, Turner matches his fascination with B.C.'s aquatic life with his past career as a geological scientist with Natural Resources Canada. He doesn't just marvel at the orcas, which he identifies as seal-eating transients, but he also explains their behaviour and why their presence is so vital.
"The whales have done more than visit; they've given us hope," he says, noting that the transient orcas returned to the Howe Sound only 10 years ago.
Turner, who led the Howe Sound Environmental Science Network, heralds their return.
"A neighbour is someone who is an important part of the place we call home," he says in the video, below. When it comes to having orcas as neighbours, "it's a title I would like to earn."
Turner has done a series of videos while kayaking in the Howe Sound. In the spring, he captured a stunning underwater swirl of anchovies being chased by seals, cormorants and seaguls.
