May 21st 3:30 PM - T-party time! T100's, T101's, & T086A's near Lasqueti

We travelled north on the afternoon, looking to require the whales from the morning tours. We reached the south shore of Lasqueti to find 2 pods, the T101’s and friends - who we later ID’ed to be the T086A’s thanks to Tyndall, T086A3, a 11 year old female orca who has a large tear in her fin. Many of our female orca have large notches and chunks missing from their fins, but Tyndall’s chunk is very jagged and rough, making her easy to ID without the cameras most days.

T086A’s

T086A - Eider
T086A1 - Nahanni
T086A3 - Tyndall
T086A4 - Akia

T100’s

T100 - Hutchins
T100C - Laurel
T100E - Tharaya
T100F - Estrella

T101’s

T101 - Reef
T101A - Rush
T101B - Lagoon

Nanaimo Vancouver Island Whale Watch Orca T-party — Photo by Janine Van der Linden.

As the T101’s and T086A’s traveled around, they eventually seemed to pick up speed and seem more alert, and we soon found out why as well. They had friends coming to meet them! In fact, their friends we're our whales from the morning. The T100’s! Hutchins, Laurel, Tharaya and Estrella were coming to meet up with our existing little party.

Orca have incredible vocalization abilities and can communicate over great distances underwater. Reef, Eider and their families likely heard and were talking with the incoming whales long before we ever saw them. Orca can communicate with each other up to 12kms away! It makes sense when we see orca getting excited and picking up speed, they can hear their friends calling to them in the distance.

Enjoy the photos of today’s afternoon tour taken by marine naturalist Janine Van Der Linden and Val Watson.

Jilann LechnerMay 29, 20221 Comment