July 30th - The T46's and T137's traveling north in Howe Sound

Both vessels Cascadia and Keta set off the dock at 10:30 and headed north of Nanaimo to search. The previous night transient killer whales were heading north from Entrance, so this was as good of a place as any to start the quest. For a couple hours our boats explored the beautiful islands in the northern part of the Strait and along the sunshine coast until finally rumours of orcas surfaced in Howe Sound.

T46E (far right) and two other members surfacing in Howe Sound. Photo by Alanna Vivani.

T46D's dorsal fin has very noticeable nicks on the top of it. Photo by Alanna Vivani.

Our boats zoomed over to the sound and started a search. Our two vessels were the only ones looking and after a tense 30 mins or so, Keta found a large group of transient orca - the same two pods that had been seen the day before! The T46's and T137's have been together for a few days now and it was nice to seem them all traveling and socializing in a different area of the Salish Sea.

T137A, a 16 year old male orca surfaces. Photo by Alanna Vivani.

T46E's dorsal fin with the nick right in the middle, he is an 18 year old male orca! Photo by Alanna Vivani.

Our afternoon tour departed the dock with high spirits. The whales had been found and weather conditions were perfect! In no time our boats returned to Howe Sound and followed the pods further and further north towards Squamish. The further our boats traveled the more milky green the water got. Howe Sound is a glacier fjord and the silt that was left behind and is coming down from the rivers creates this cloudy effect in the water. With mountainous islands on every side, Howe Sound looked truly stunning.

Check out some more photos below!

Orcas surfacing just in front of the Britannia Mine Museum. Photo by Jenna Keen.

T46E (left) and T137A (right) surfacing, displaying their unique nicks! Photo by Alanna Vivani.

You can just see the beginning of two surfaces about to happen! Photo by Alanna Vivani.