On Saturday July 3rd our boats left Nanaimo and headed south to search for whales. It took awhile for someone to locate them, but transient killer whales T77C “Neftali” and T77D “Alcyon” were located near Sidney. We watched these siblings forage as they slowly traveled north and we had some amazing views of their dorsal fins and marked up saddle patches.

Neftali was born in 2006 and was traveling with its sibling Alcyon who was born in 2009. Both have short, curved dorsal fins that can be tough to use for identification because they don’t have any nicks in them. Fortunately their saddle patches have scratches and scars in them, which makes it much easier to figure out who is who.

Transient, or Bigg’s, killer whales prey on marine mammals which are fortunately abundant in the Salish Sea. Their predominant prey source are those cute harbour seals we see hauled out on the rocky shorelines of the Gulf Islands, but they also feed on sea lions, porpoises, and occasionally even other species of whales!

Some of our passengers on the tours also stopped in to visit the cormorant rookery on the west side of Gabriola Island. The chicks are rather large now and the nests are looking quite full!

On our afternoon tour heard a report of humpback whales and traveled over to Entrance Island to spend some time with Cirque and her calf. These two have been around Gabriola Island a lot these past couple of weeks and both have pretty unique skin patches, mot likely from shedding. We watched them do some deep dives, show off their flukes, and we even got a glimpse of a large pectoral fin being raised out of the water and slapped down for a splash!

Not too long into watching these humpbacks, another pod of transient killer whales were found! The T49As (without T49A1 and A2) were traveling in the Strait of Georgia and put on quite the show. We watched them do some spyhops, barrel rolls, and lots of tail slapping. It was another great day on the Salish Sea that leaves us feeling so grateful for all of the wildlife in our backyard!

Here are some of the best photos taken that day by marine naturalists Cheyenne Brewster and Brad Farrow.