June 23rd - Orcas outside Nanaimo!

On Wednesday Cascadia left the harbour with 4 eager guests aboard, searching for whales as we traveled.
We began our search heading north towards French Creek, just outside Parksville. We had an early morning report that Orcas had been sighted near the creek, so off we went. We arrived at the creek with no whales to be found. Not to worry, we had a back up plan! We turned our vessel back towards Nanaimo, the plan being to go find some Humpbacks off of Gabriola Island, a spot they frequent as it is a pretty good feeding area for them. However, on our way back we got a call from another whale watching boat that they had found an Orca just outside Nanaimo. We caught up with them to find a large lone Male traveling northward past Nanaimo’s Neck Point. This whale was splashing quite a lot with his tail, as we traveled at a slow steady pace.

A few times we were able to shut down our boat and just float next to him, as he wasn’t traveling very fast. It took our Naturalist, Rebeka Pirker, a little bit to ID this whale, as he had a very “perfect” dorsal fin. When IDing Orcas on the water we try and get clear shots of their dorsal and saddle patch, the light grey area behind their dorsal fin. The fins often have curves, nicks and scratches that help us ID them, and their dorsals also have unique shapes and markings that aid in IDing as well. When we say this whale had a “perfect” fin, we mean that he has no clearly visible notches or nicks to help with identification. So we went to the saddle patch. Using the saddle we were able to confirm that we were traveling with T097, Gull.

Here is the catalog photo of T97, Gull. You can see the circles indicate what we used to ID him while on the boat. He has scaring in his saddle patch, and the smallest notch at the very base of his dorsal fin.

The catalogs are printed every few years with new updated pictures, as a whales dorsal and saddle patch can change over time, with new injuries or markings that help us to ID them.

This is the photo we took on the boat this day, and the one we used to id him. You can make out the small notch, as well as the scaring on the saddle. Often times the scaring can be hard to see depending on the angle and the lighting that day, so some whales become very difficult to ID on the water, and we have to wait till we get in the office to blow the image up pretty large and figure out who the fin belongs to.

While traveling gull slapped the water with his tail a few times, and then took a breath and went under. We thought he’d be under a few minutes, as this was the pattern he had been displaying. Gull was only under for a few seconds before he breached! Orcas don’t breach often so when they do it’s very exciting. Our naturalist missed the first breach with the camera, and since orca’s don’t breach too often, we weren’t expecting the second breach that happened right after. We thought for sure that was the end of the display, but Rebeka got the camera up and ready, just in case, and managed to get photos of the next 3 breaches!

Some of the angles make it look like Gull is wearing a suit jacket.

Why so jumpy? Seeing a whale breach is always an exciting moment. It really shows you just how big these animals are. However, this activity takes an immense amount of energy to perform. These animals often weigh in over 10000 lbs, that’s a lot of weight to lift out of the water. So why do they do it? Well, Humpbacks, we theorize, do it to communicate over long distances or to knock parasites off their bodies.

However, when it comes to Orcas, we really aren’t sure why they do this. Gull could have been trying to send a message to orcas somewhere in the Salish Sea, or he could have been very excited about something. Breaching from Orcas usually occurs during or after a successful hunt, or during social time at T-parties, when multiple pods are hanging out. A long male wouldn’t be breaching to impress any ladies, but he could have been talking to some other whales. Or maybe he finished a hunt before we found him, and he was celebrating his success. Perhaps he could have just been excited to see us. It’s unlikely we will ever know the true reasons why whales do everything they do.

In some of the photos we can see some yellow discolouration on Gull’s stomach. This discolouration looks like a scar, likely an old wound that has been long healed. Orcas hunt other mammals, like seals and sea lions, but it’s not uncommon for them to take on larger pray like Humpbacks or even Sharks. Gull probably tried to make a meal out of something a bit larger than he could handle, and lunch bit back.

Orcas can get scaring from other things as well, like entanglements in fishing gear or boat motors, but given the location and size of this mark, it’s unlikely it was from either of these things. In any case, the wound looks healed, and his dramatic displays of energy indicate that Gull is a pretty healthy boy.

After leaving Gull we got word that a second pair of orcas had been spotted not to far away, so we turned south and went to find them. We found Noah (T49A1) and his younger brother Judy (T49A2) traveling passed Gabriola Island, heading towards the Nanaimo Harbour.

These 2 whales belong to the T49A Matriline. T49A - Nan - is a whale we see often, usually accompanied by family, Noah, Judy, Nat, Neptune and Nebula (her youngest and only daughter). Last year Nat went on an adventure with 2 other long males, but returned to his family pod, and now it seems Noah has taken Judy out to show him the ropes.

Noah is 20 years old, which makes him a full grown adult male Orca. Adult males usually still remain with mom, except for occasional excursions out to socialize. Judy is only 14 years old, so he’s just entered puberty. We like to imagine that Noah had taken Judy on a boys trip to show him the ropes and get some brother bonding time in.

Orca’s are very social animals, and their family bonds are incredibly important to them. You can see how close these 2 travel together, practically on top of one another. Orcas are tactile, they enjoy touch and physical closeness to those they care about.

New studies are being published, suggesting Dolphins (of which Orcas are the largest) have best friends, and even have names for each other. Given how important family and socialization is to Orcas, it’s not surprising that they have best friends and favourite whales to hang out with. It’s cool to see Noah and Judy have such a strong brotherly bond, that will hopefully continue for many more years.

After leaving Noah and Judy we stopped at Entrance Island to take a look at some rather large pinnipeds while they are still in the area. Stellar Sea Lions are making their way for our northern coast line to mate and pup, but some of them have missed the travel memo! We still have a hand full of females, and one rather large boy hanging out at Entrance, where they usually spend the winter. It won’t be long before these fin-footed mammals pack their bags and head north to meet up with the rest of them.

Also on Entrance Island today were the Stellar Sea lions smaller cousin, the Harbour Seals. These guys are Bigg’s Orcas main food source, and with plenty of them in the area the Bigg’s Orcas have a very stable food supply. Right now it’s pupping season for our Harbour Seals, so if you see a Seal pup while your on the beaches, make sure it give it plenty of space.

We also got to see some River Otters at Entrance today! These 2 were playing in the water just around the corner from our Harbour seals and Stellar Sea lions.
Did you know Sea Otters once thrived here as well? Sea Otters were extirpated during the fur trade in the Salish Sea, but biologists are hopeful they will return. We already have small groups near Victoria and hopefully in the next decade or so we start to see them returning to the rest of our sea. Otters are helpful in controlling pest species, like Sea urchins, which can decimate our kelp forests and remove habitat for fish and other wildlife.

Wanna beat the heat by getting on the water? Our boats are running daily at noon during the week, and on weekends we have tours at 10:30 and 3:30! Come visit our new office on the waterfront of Nanaimo, or book online through our website for you own fabulous adventure on the Salish Sea.

*All photos were taken with a telephoto lens and have been cropped for detail. All regulations regarding distance from marine mammals are followed during the tours to ensure our whales and other wildlife are safe and unbothered by our presence.