August 31, 2024, 10:30 am - The T002Cs and T075Bs hunting, Bullet and Seabird feeding, and The T049As!

It was a very exciting morning to be on the water. We ended up finding some whales very excited and very close to home. The T002Cs and T075Bs were travelling together in very close to the Gabriola Island shoreline. The T002Cs and T075Bs consist of the following members:

T002C Tasu ♀ (1989)
T002C1 Rocky ♂ (2002)
T002C3 Lucy ♀ (2011)
T002C5 (2020)

T075B Pebbles ♀ (1995)
T075B2 Jasper ♀ (2015)
T075B3 Rubble ♂ (2017)
T075B4 (2021)

It was a true T-party today, as these whales were very happy to be spending time together, with lots of breaching, tail slapping, pectoral fin slapping, and more! As they moved their way along Gabriola Island they approached a known seal haul-out area we like to call “seal rock”. At this point, we thought that surely with all the noise these whales had been making they wouldn’t be able to use their usual surprise tactics on the seals and would likely pass by, but to our amazement, they seemed to have something! A harbour Seal had fallen victim to these whales as they passed through, providing a nice snack for these 8 whales.

They continued down the coast celebrating their meal, but it was time for us to leave them, and we headed out in search of other whales. It didn’t take us long to find two feeding humpbacks not too far from the orca: it was Bullet (BCX1658)and Seabird (BCX17774) travelling together! Bullet and Seabird are both known females since they have been recorded with calves in the area. Bullet has one known calf, Butterfly Wings, who we saw recently for the very first time! Although Bullet is a frequent visitor, we didn’t get to see her when she was travelling with that calf in 2021. Seabird was a relatively young mother, having her first calf last year when she was only 6 years old. Another whale named Olympus is currently the youngest known mother humpback in the Salish Sea, having brought a calf back when she was only 5. These young whales seemed to do a good job as mothers since their calves stayed with them and were healthy right up until we saw them leave our waters.

Eventually, we also left these humpbacks to their travels and headed over to one of our favourite places: Stinky Rocks! Here we got to see both Steller Sea Lions and some Harbour Seals hauled out on the rocks, this time not at risk of becoming a snack. Oh wait, were those fins in the distance?? Another pod of orca turned up, the T049As and they started circling in the area, likely trying to wrangle up a snack of their own. Unfortunately, we were running quite late into the tour so we had to leave these guys behind and never learned if they were successful in their attempts.

T049A Nan ♀ (1986)
T049A3 Nat ♂ (2011)
T049A4 Neptune ♂ (2014)
T049A5 Nebula ♀ (2017)
T049A6 Charlie II ♂ (2022)

This was an amazing morning spent with all of these different whales. The onboard Marine Naturalists Aly Kohlman and Vanessa Vereschahen captured some great photos of these encounters which can be viewed below!

A breach from a young whale, likely T075B4. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

T002C3 Lucy in front of her brother, T002C1 Rocky. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Likely T075B4 breaching again. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

A tail slap during the T-party. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

T002C3 Lucy beside a youngster tail slapping. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Matriarch T002C Tasu tail slapping. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

T002C Tasu has this distinct Notch. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Another big tail slap with some onlookers from Gabriola! Photo by Aly Kohlman.

T002C1 Rocky. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

T002C Tasu looking for a snack at the Seal Haul Out. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

T002C Rocky slapping his pectoral fin. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Upside-down tail slapping. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

The hunt is on! Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

You can really see the size difference. The Harbour Seal weighs about 300 pounds! Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Getting a slight rest during the hunt. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

T002C Rocky in the hunt. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

T075B Pebbles helping out as well. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

T002C1 Rocky facing the camera during the hunt. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

T002C3 Lucy traveling closely with brother T002C1 Rocky. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Bullet going for a dive. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Seabirds dorsal fin. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Bullet diving with the coastal mountains in the background. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Seabird diving in front of the mountains. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Bullet in the lead, with Seabird behind. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

A very westcoast photo: Whales, Sailboats, and Mt. Baker. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Seabird making a fluke waterfall. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

The underside of Seabird's tail flukes. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Steller Sea lions at Stinky Rocks. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

There's a big size difference between the Males and Females here. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Long Harbour Seal is long. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Some happy Harbour Seals, for now... Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

A gull chasing a Turkey Vulture. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

The chase continues. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

T049A Nan surfacing in the waves. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

T049A Nan in the lead, followed by T049A5 Nebula. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

T049A3 Nat. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.