August 10th 3:30 - Visiting Ts in the Gulf Islands... then a surprise T-party off of Valdes Island!

On August 10th we spent the afternoon visiting the T18’s while they were looking for dinner. The pod was split in half, with 2 members searching on the East and then the other 2 searching on the West side of the channel. Spouter (T19C) and Nootka (T19) were sticking close to a reef where a couple Harbour Seals were precariously balanced on the tip of some rocks. It seems like this was their (the seals) lucky day - the duo passed by them without snagging a single one. Galiano (T19B) and Esperanza (T18) seemed more content to just travel along the opposite shoreline without any particular goal in mind. Near the end of our encounter we did witness Esperanza tailslapping the surface of the water, likely recalling the other two to her so they could continue on their adventure. These four ended up meeting back up together and entering into the waters beside Parker Island as we headed on out.

Esperanza is one our eldest Transient orca with an estimated age of about 66 years old. Her daughter, Nootka, is roughly 56 years old. Both these ladies have likely gone through menopause at this point, so it is unlikely that their pod will grow in size at all.

After we left our 4 orca we headed into the Strait of Georgia through Porlier Pass to go visit our Stellar Sealions and our Harbour Seals. We had quite the surprise when we adventured out there though… a giant T-party (a gathering of multiple pods of Transient orca all together) was playing along the coastline as we traveled Northwards! While we were watching them, we witnessed all of the prepubescent orca being guided by Jack (T137A) near a popular seal haulout. All of the matriarchs and coming-of-age females were frolicking farther offshore.

Our T-party consisted of at least 20 orca, but we suspect more. Here are the whales we have ID’d so far:

T37A - Volker (1994)
T37A1 - Inyo (2007)
T37A2 - Inky (2009)
T37A3 - Spinnaker (2013)
T37A4 - Crinkle (2015)
T37A5 (2019)

T137 - Loon (1984)
T137A - Jack (2002)
T137B - Tempest (2006)
T137D - Wright (2012)

T36A2 - Kailas (2012)
T36A3 - Mike III (2015)

These individuals were so busy playing away that it was hard to figure out who we were looking at! Orcas are naturally quite tactile creatures and adore touching fins and rubbing up against eachother. We had quite a few photos where we had half a dozen orca dorsals pressed right alongside one another!

Please enjoy these photos by Marine Naturalist Cheyenne Brewster and Rebeka Pirker. We are running daily tours at 10:30 and 3:30 on both our open vessels and our semi-covered vessel. We would love to have you join us on an adventure! If you’d like to book please check out the front page of our website to see our live schedule for current availability. August has been a busy month for us, but there is still some time to get on out and enjoy our ocean before the school year kicks off again!

Smile for the camera! Photo by Cheyenne Brewster

Jack (T137A). Photo by Cheyenne Brewster

Jack (T137A) with Mt. Baker in the background. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster

Tempest (T137B) and Volker (T37A). Photo by Cheyenne Brewster

Give a little wave! Photo by Cheyenne Brewster

Spouter (T019C). Photo by Cheyenne Brewster

Mike III (T36A3) on the left and Wright (T137D) on the right. Photo by Rebeka Pirker

Jilann LechnerAugust 14, 2021Comment