On July 12 we visited the T46Bs during both our 10:30am and 3:30pm tours. Matriarch Raksha (T46B) was leading 4 of her daughters (Akela (T46B2), Sedna (T46B3), Quiver (T46B4), and Sol (T46B6)) up through Trincomali Channel. It is not very common to spot a pod of orca made up entirely of females so it is always a treat to observe these lovely ladies.

Raksha is a very successful mother, with all but one of her known calves still being alive today. Her youngest, Sol, is only 2 years old. Raksha herself is 33 this year, so she will likely have a few more calves before she enters menopause. Orcas are one of the only species besides humans that go through menopause and have a long post-menopause life expectancy.

Our afternoon tour also witnessed a cast of Turkey Vultures having dinner. We do not see birds feasting very often, so seeing vultures eating away today and eagles eating yesterday sure is a treat for us. While we have included a photo of this at the end of the blog, we did put a GORE WARNING just in case you do not want to see that!

All photos from today’s trips were taken by Naturalists Ryan and Rachel with telephoto lenses and cropped for social media.

Our trips depart at 10:30am and 3:30pm daily from the beautiful Nanaimo harbourfront. Join us for your own adventure today!

This mother harbour seal appears to have given birth quite recently - the pup looked brand new! We also witnessed it nursing.

Amongst the travel and hunting we even saw a spyhop from one of the girls! Spyhopping is what Akela is doing below. The whale breaks the surface of the water face first, getting its eyes above the waterline to get a look at what is going on around them.

During our afternoon tour we also found one sneaky humpback whale. This whale was doing very long dives so we did not visit it for long before heading out to find other wildlife to observe.

GORE WARNING!
We witnessed Turkey Vultures feeding during our trip today.

The circle of life. Photo by Ryan Uslu, 3:30pm tour

July 12th - T46Bs in Trinchomali Channel

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