July 24th 3:30 - Afternoon tour with Bigg's orca (T065As and T037As) and 3 humpback whales
For our afternoon tour on July 24th, our semi-covered boat Kula set out again in search of whales. We found a pod of 7 orcas just east of Galiano island! The pod that was travelling here was the T65A’s. The matriarch of the T65A pod is Fingers/Artemis (T65A). Fingers was born in 1986 making her 35 years old. Females can have a lifespan of 60 to 80 years while males have a lifespan of 40 to 60 years. Fingers has 5 calves in total. Her first born calf is the 17 year old male called Ooxjaa (T65A2). The dorsal fins of males are proportionally larger than females where they can reach up to about 6 feet. You can see how large his dorsal fin is below compared to his mom.
Ooxjaa (T65A2) on the left and Fingers (T65A) on the right.
The rest of her children consist of Amira (T65A3), Ellifrit (T65A4), Elsie (T65A5) and Callisto (T65A6) who are 14, 10, 7 and 3 years old, respectively. Orcas can have calves every 3 to 5 years and can have 5 to 6 calves in their lifetime. We watched this pod travel along the shoreline for a while before heading out.
Afterwards we found 2 humpbacks near Galiano island again which was not far from the orcas. These two humpbacks were Zephyr and her calf! Humpbacks travel from the warm waters of Hawaii to the colder and more productive waters of the Salish Sea in the summer to eat as much as they can before heading back. This is Zephyr’s first migration to over here. A humpback calf will stick with their mom for 6 months to about a year before going their separate ways. But until that time comes, this mom and calf will stick very close to one another.
Near Galiano island again, we found a second pod of orcas! These ones were the T37A’s. The T37A’s consist of Volker (T37A) and her children Inky (T37A2), Spinnaker (T37A3), Crinkle (T37A4) and T37A5. Inyo (T37A1) is also a member of this pod but doesn’t often travel with its mother and siblings. While Volker is 27 years old, Inyo, Inky, Spinnaker, Crinkle and T37A5 are 14, 12, 8, 6 and 2 years of age, respectively. We found this pod while they were hunting! Transient Killer Whales feed on marine mammals such as harbour seals, harbour porpoises and Steller sea lions.
On our way back, we found another humpback whale near Gabriola Island who we stuck with for a little bit. It made for a good ending for this afternoon full of whales.
Check out the pictures our naturalist Val Watson took below:
