September 1st - Orcas at Apex, Humpbacks in the Strait!
September 1st was a beautiful day for whale watching. The seas were as smooth as glass as our vessels left the dock. Today our tour headed South towards Apex - an area just between the Canadian and American borders. Here we spotted the T049A’s hunting porpoise!
On our way down to Apex our covered vessel, Kula, encountered a mother and calf humpback duo feeding just below the surface. This pair was ID’d as “Raptor” (BCY0458) and her calf Harpy.
Our open boat, Keta, was trying to watch the T049A’s when a humpback popped up behind us. The humpback was ID’d as “Zigzag” (BCX1193) - she started doing very deep dives, so we turned our attention back towards the T049A’s who were busy hunting porpoise. The pod members were travelling very erratically as they chased after their prey. Noah, T049A, had split away from his pod and was traveling North along Galiano Island’s coastline with Kula at this time.
Here are the best photos from the day by Naturalist Cheyenne and Rebekah!
Raptor (BCY0458) and her 2020 calf. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster
Zigzag (BCX2293)’s fluke. Photo by Rebeka Pirker
Matriarch Nan (T49A) getting some fast food! Photo by Rebeka Pirker
Neptune (T49A4). Photo by Rebeka Pirker
Nat (T49A3). Photo by Rebeka Pirker
Noah (T49A1). Photo by Cheyenne Brewster
Noah (T49A1) - the intricate scratches on his saddle patch combined with the notch in his dorsal makes Noah an easy boy to ID. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster
Noah (T49A1) along the Galiano shoreline. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster