October 6th - A big mixed pod of Transient killer whales!

Leaving the docks on the 6th of October we had no idea all the excitement that was in store for us on the water! We headed all the way down south to the Saanich inlet where we found a group of 8 Transient orca travelling together! It was the T018s and the T100s all mixed together and putting on quite the show! The big males of the group; T019B Galiano, T019C Spouter, and T100C Laurel were travelling separately from the rest of the group and throwing their tails around and showing off their large pectoral fins with some pec slaps! These big boys are all close to fully grown meaning they are about 8m long and weigh close to 6 tonnes! These guys also differ from the other members of the pod because they have proportionally larger fins! The most obvious example of this is with the 6 foot tall dorsal fins they have but you can also notice it when they are showing off their tails and pectoral fins too!

During the tour it wasn’t only the boys who were having some fun as we saw a few mini-tail slaps from the females and younger whales as well as plenty of cuddle puddles forming during this T-party! These whales were T100 Hutchins, T100E Tharaya, T100F Estrella, T018 Esperanza, and T019 Nootka!

On the way home we also got to see some harbour seals and a whole bunch of sea lions hauled out on the log booms that line many of our islands! We managed to snap a ton of amazing photos today so be sure to check them out below!

Jilann LechnerOctober 10, 2021Comment