October 1st - Humpbacks in the Strait and orca close to home... AGAIN! :)
Wow, and just like that it’s October! We cannot believe how quickly this season has flown by and we are so grateful for all of the amazing encounters we’ve been able to have.
This month kicked off with yet another exceptional day on the water. We might sound like a broken record if you’ve read yesterday’s blog, because again we saw humpback whales in the Strait and then orcas on the way home!
Humpback whale Notcho (KEX0021) was traveling with a friend and neither were fluking for pretty much the entire time we were there. They were spending a lot of time at the surface while traveling south, and when our patience was almost worn out, Notcho showed us a beautiful fluke! Notcho gets the name because of the big notch missing along the trailing edge on the left side of its fluke.
On the way back Cascadia briefly encountered two more humpback whales, Split Fin and Corona. Both showed us their flukes right away and we were able to get a blurry photo of Corona and a nice one of Split Fin.
Approaching Dodd Narrows from the south was the family pod the T037As… again! These guys have been hunting in the vicinity for the past three days and we saw them make two kills while we were on scene. Matriarch T037A is a very successful mom, with 5 surviving offspring at such a young age (she was born in 1994). Her youngest is still a small calf, being born only this year, and spends most of his time close to his mom’s side. We followed them through Dodd Narrows and left them heading north past Gabriola Island.
Here are some of the best photos taken that day by marine naturalists Natalie Reichenbacher and Cheyenne Brewster!
Photo by Natalie Reichenbacher
Waterfall! Photo by Natalie Reichenbacher
KEX0021 “Notcho” finally showing off its fluke! Photo by Natalie Reichenbacher
This is why this whale got the nickname “Split Fin”. Photo by Natalie Reichenbacher
Photo by Natalie Reichenbacher
The underside of Split Fin’s fluke. Photo by Natalie Reichenbacher
Notcho traveling in the Strait. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
Newest member to the pod - T037A5! Photo by Natalie Reichenbacher
Photo by Natalie Reichenbacher
Photo by Natalie Reichenbacher
Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.