October 23rd - Last tour of the season and we saw both orcas and a humpback whale!

The sun was making occasionally appearances on another crisp, fall day as passengers on Cascadia set out for the final tour of the year. We headed towards reports of humpback whales in the Strait of Georgia and ended up finding our own along the way!

Humpback whale Prowler was showing off its fluke and going on deep dives all around the boat. We were surprised more than once by the noisy and powerful exhale coming from this gentle giant as it surfaced near the boat. We were able to see the underside of its fluke several times and from the unique trailing edge we were able to identify it as Prowler.

We cut our visit short however, as there were orca nearby! We headed south to Active Pass where the family pod the T49As were finishing up a kill. Gulls were surrounding the whales from above as the matriarch, T49A “Nan”, instructed her younger offspring on how to participate. Not long after the kill was made her eldest son T49A1 “Noah” came in from the Strait and joined the family feast.

The whales slowly traveled together next to another seal haul out and spent lots of time at the surface, occasionally changing direction or giving a little tail slap. It was a very peaceful, west coast encounter from our point of view, but not so peaceful underwater where the prey was killed!

On the journey home we stopped to see a bald eagle, a harbour seal haul out, and finally both California and Steller sea lions before calling it a day. We saw pretty much everything on the checklist!

Here are some of the best photos taken by marine naturalist Natalie Reichenbacher.