October 13th - T65As Transient Orcas down South!
At 11am Cascadia left the dock and headed out into beautiful sunshine. A report surfaced down south so our vessel traveled all the way through the stunning Gulf Islands towards transient orca.
Just after noon we arrived on scene with the T65A’s, one of our favourite pods! The matriarch of this pods, T65A, is a very successful mother and had a new little addition join her earlier this spring. T65A6 is a female calf who is just starting to lose that orange colouration that calves have when they’re born. Slowly the calves become more and more white as their blubber thickens and more calcium is added to their bodies.
Killer whales don’t migrate to warmer waters to have their babies like so many other whale species do. They have their calves throughout the year in our cold local waters and the calf has to learn how to swim and keep up with the pod right away. Not an easy life for a baby orca so it is great to see this one grow and fatten up over the summer!
Here are some of the best photos that were taken during the tour by marine naturalist Rodrigo Menezes.
T65A2 is a male born in 2004. His fin has grown significantly in the past couple of years!
Notice the nick near the top of T65A2’s dorsal fin? These markings as well as the scars in the saddle patches help us to identify whales.
T65A2 surfacing in front of the San Juan Islands
An orca surfacing in the kelp!
Hunting in the kelp forest?
A transient killer whale buffet!
According to this guy, summer is not over!
The sea lions have taken over the log booms at Harmac!