Gabriola Island, and the Nanaimo area, have been hot spots for Orca activity over the last few weeks. It seems not a day goes by without hearing of an orca near Neckpoint, Dodd’s Narrows or Entrance Island. Today was no exception. We left the harbour with no sightings to go off of and began our trip south through the Gulf islands. Enjoying the scenery and the cruise, our eyes scanning the water for whales.
We made it half way down Galiano Island before circling back to Gabriola Island where we found a T-party in Descanso Bay.

This T-party was the T36’s, T46’s and T49C.

The T36’s are a 3 generation pod, with the Matriarch, Flapjack, being over 50 years old, she is done having her own children. She travels with her daughter, Tattertip, born in 1998, who is rumoured to be pregnant! Hopefully we get to see her with a little orange faced baby in the coming months, though it could take a while as Orcas are pregnant for 18 months. So it might be some time still before we see a new baby.
Tattertip already has 3 kids that travel with her and her mom, Bhotia born in 2009, Greenfelder born in 2013, and Chip born in 2018.

Also in the mix today are the T46’s, Wake traveling with Centeki, Strider, Thor and Loki. Centeki doesn’t share a number with Wake because she was spotted without Wake, traveling alone the first time she was documented. However, she’s been by Wakes side for many years, leading some to speculate that she is actually Wake’s daughter, or perhaps a sister. Either way, Centeki doesn’t have calves of her own, and being born in 1982 she’s 40 years old so it’s unlikely she will produce any calves of her own and therefore has no reason to leave Wakes side. Whatever reason Centeki has for traveling with Wake we’re always happy to see her with the pod and doing well.

Thor and Strider are very large boys with distinct notches in their fins making them easy to ID and spot from a distance, often without the use of a camera.

The last member of this T-party is another Lone male, T49C Janet. Janet is a large boy who is known to travel alone, or in the company of other pods. Janet spent some time a few summers ago with one of his nephews, Nat T49A3, in the Victoria harbour, stirring up trouble. We sometimes see Janet cruising around solo, but more often than not he’s buddied up with someone and found temporary travel companions.

Being social creatures Orca’s will seek out friends often, and these T-parties are the perfect chance to socialize, gossip and hunt together. Orca’s form life-long bonds with friends and family and you can feel the excitement in the air when you see a T-party. There’s so much going on we often run into the problem of not knowing where to point the camera. Too many whales! The best problem to have.

We hung out with these guys for a while, watching them play and travel around Gabriola Island before leaving them to their party and going to find Seals and Sea Lions.

Below are some photos taken by Marine Naturalist Cheyenne Brewster.

March 22nd - Another T-party off Gabriola Island

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