Our afternoon boats left the dock at 3:30 and again headed south into the Gulf Islands in search of whales and other wildlife. Reports surfaced of transient orca traveling near the border, so we headed that way. In about an hour and a half our boat was on scene with orca!

It was the family pod the T18s/T19s, a group of 4 that are frequent visitors to the Salish Sea. We watched them travel north in Saanich Inlet in lovely conditions. This is a fantastic pod to watch because it really makes you appreciate the size difference between males and females and how important family is in the orca kingdom.

The pod is led by matriarch (the eldest female) T18 “Esperenza”, who is estimated to be born sometime before 1955. She has a couple of nicks in her dorsal fin and lots of scarring in her saddle patch, so if you manage to get a good photo of her dorsal you should be able to tell her apart!

Her daughter T19 “Nootka/Moojah” is estimated to be born sometime before 1965 and is followed by her two surviving offspring, T19B “Galiano” and T19C “Spouter”. Galiano was born in 1995 and Spouter in 2001, making them the youngest of the pod but you wouldn’t guess this based on size! These boys are huge!

Male killer whale dorsal fins themselves can grow to be 6 feet tall, and tower over the females much more conservative 2-3 feet. Their size makes them ferocious predators but they are momma’s boys at heart. It is not uncommon for male killer whales to spend their entire lives with their mothers, in fact mother and son bonds are the strongest in killer whale world.

It was a double species day! Our boats also found a humpback whale around Mill Bay that was doing deep dives and some fluking. Humpback whales are now a common occurrence in the Salish Sea after decades of their population recovering from the brink of extinction.

Here are some of the best photos taken by marine naturalists Rebeka and Cheyenne who were guiding the tours. We also had some photos sent in by recreational boaters Richard Hyde and Bryan Grom who live in North Saanich. Enjoy!

September 12th 3:30 - Transient orca and an unknown humpback whale!

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