September 18th - Orcas vs. Humpback!

On September 18th we travelled Southbound in search of whales. As we cruised down Trincomali Channel we received word of a pod of Orca spotted just West of Active Pass. There we located the T100’s travelling along Mayne Island’s shoreline. This pod consists of four members: Matriarch T100 (Hutchins) and three of her surviving children - T100C (Laurel), T100E (Tharaya), and T100F (Estrella). They picked up speed as they entered Active Pass, heading towards the Strait of Georgia. As they entered the Strait they slowed down and started amazing us with some breaching action! We continued to watch the pod when suddenly a passenger pointed out an odd looking blow just behind the pod of Orca… it turns out that this was a Humpback whale! We do not typically see humpbacks and orca intermingling, so it was a treat to see the whales in action.

As we observed the T100’s and humpback interacting, we then were surprised to see ANOTHER pod of orca approaching us. This pod, the T123’s, quickly caught up with the T100’s. Just like the T100’s, the T123’s are also a four whale pod consisting of the Matriarch T123 (Sidney) and her three children T123A (Stanley), T123C (Lucky), and T123D (Darcy). It is interesting seeing these two pods interact, because they have a very similar family structure (mother with her eldest son, toddler daughter, and youngster).

At this point the humpback began to dive very deep, likely in an attempt to get away from the orca. We observed the T100’s and T123’s happily swimming after each other as we left the scene and began to head back through Active Pass. We briefly saw the humpback again as we entered the pass, who was busily mugging a boat (going up and brushing against the side of the boat). This humpback was later ID’d as Nike - a whale known for this particular behaviour!

Unfortunately Nike was quite elusive this day, resulting in no good pictures of him.

Here are some of the best photos from the day by our on-board Naturalists:

T100’s splashing along. T100C (Laurel) farthest to the right. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

T100C (Laurel) racing through the waves. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

Checking us out with a little spyhop! Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

Time to boogy! Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

T100’s racing through Active Pass. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

Cormorants! Photo by Rebeka Pirker.

California Sealion relaxing on the log booms. Photo by Rebeka Pirker.

California Sealions enjoying the sunshine! Photo by Rebeka Pirker.

Turkey Vulture on the rocks. Photo by Rebeka Pirker.