August 13th - Bigg's orca and humpback whales on both morning and afternoon tours!

It was a lovely, calm day when our vessels departed Nanaimo and encountered lots of whales in the Strait of Georgia! In the morning we saw a pod of Bigg’s killer whales, the T101’s traveling along the east side of Gabriola Island. This family has a matriarch and two adult males (with the big fins!) in it, and we see them frequently throughout the season. The size of these whales and their family bonds never cease to impress us!

After visiting with the orca we encountered two humpback whales just a bit south of where we were. Using dorsal fins, flukes, and our handy ID catalogue, we were able to identify one of these individuals as “Ocular”. These whales were foraging for krill and/or baitfish, so we were able to see stay relatively in the same place and watch them come up and catch their breath after a deep dive.

In the afternoon we encountered a different pod of Bigg’s orca, the T37s and the T18/19s, about 10 ten whales. They were pretty active and social and we were treated to some spy hops, breaches, tail slaps, barrel rolls, and pec slaps. There is no way of knowing when they will be active, but we got lucky and were in the right place at the right time!

Our afternoon boats also relocated Ocular and friend, and this time there were even more in this feeding group! We were able to identify another individual as Kelpie and there were a couple more unknowns as well. One of our boats even had a curious humpback come up to the boat to check it out! When this happens we always shut off the engines and wait for the whale to move away on it's own time.

Hope you enjoy all of the photos that were taken this day!

Jilann LechnerAugust 17, 2021Comment