November 5th marked our first winter tour of the season! Regular whale watching season typically runs from April to October. We have whales in our area all year long, so we are lucky and are able to offer tours over the winter!

Today we received word of a pod of 4 orca travelling close to shore near Lantzville. We headed out in search of this pod, eager to see what whales were around today. We identified this pod as the T123’s, a favourite of the area. The T123’s consist of 4 members:

T123 Sidney (♀, born ~1985)
T123A Stanley (♂, born 2000)
T123C Lucky (♀, born 2012)
T123D Darcy (♀, born 2018)

Sidney has had some family troubles over the years. In 2011, her second calf T123B Thrasher disappeared at the age of 2. He has never been seen again and is now presumed deceased. Later that same year, Stanley and herself were sighted stranded on a sandbank near Prince Rupert, British Columbia. It is speculated the duo ended up stranded while hunting for seals. Onlookers were able to capture this video of the incident. Strandings are very serious - due to their shape and size, whales cannot survive on land for extended periods of time. The weight of their body starts pressing on their organs shortly after they strand. Thankfully, this stranding case had a happy ending - the pair was monitored and was able to be successfully returned to the ocean once the tides rolled back in.
However, unbeknownst at the time, this was a two-part miracle rescue. Sidney was pregnant with her third calf, Lucky, during the stranding. Not only did Sidney herself manage to survive, but she also managed to have a successful birth with no known issues to her calf! Lucky has always been an energetic little whale who seems to love chasing her siblings around.

After departing our orca, our trip headed south around Gabriola Island. There are many places you can stop along the island’s coastline to observe seals, sea lions, birds, and deer - however, our crew had another species in mind today. They were searching for humpbacks, and were hoping to make this a Double Species tour!

Today, their search proved successful! They found Divot (BCX1057) & Garibaldi (BCX0745) foraging near Thrasher Rock. Divot is a usual resident of the Salish Sea - she returns every year and can be spotted feeding up and down the Strait of Georgia. Her friend, however, is not a usual whale we see. According to Happywhale Garibaldi is typically seen around Hawaii, Mexico or along Haida Gwaii. Garibaldi’s first sighting was way back in 1982, making this whale at least 40 years old. They have never been seen with a calf, so it is likely that they are either a male or an infertile female. It is always exciting to see uncommon faces (or in this case, flukes) in our area. So far we have confirmed 91 unique humpbacks in our area since January. Maybe we will get lucky and be able to ID 100 different individuals by the end of the year!

Today’s photos were taken by Marine Naturalist Vanessa Vereschahen.

November 5th - Double Species day close to home port!

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