June 19th - Double Species day!
It was a beautiful sunny afternoon as our guests donned their anti-exposure suites and climbed aboard Cascadia, our RHIB zodiac.
Cascadia left the harbour, already with a direction in mind. Whales had been spotted all through the Strait of Georgia all morning, so we had options! We settled on heading for a pod of Orca that were traveling near the southern gulf island of Mayne. This pod was one of our favourites and a pod we encounter frequently every year. It was the T137s. Matriarch Loon was traveling with her eldest, and only son, Jack, as well as her 2 daughters Tempest and Wright.
Jack is always a bit of a camera hog, and who can blame him. His dorsal fin stands tall and straight, with 2 large divots out of the trailing edge he is easy to ID on the water.
We followed this family as they travelled along the shores, occasionally spy-hopping to get a look at the surface.
After our time with Loon and her family we turned to head back home when we came across two more familiar faces, or rather, two familiar tails. Orion and Divot the humpbacks were cruising the shores of Galiano, diving and fluking for us. Both Orion and Divot are whales that stop in the Salish Sea every summer to feed on our bountiful resources. Having just returned from their wintering grounds this duo was busy feeding, restoring the lost energy from their long migration.
Here is what we know about these 2 whales.
Orion was confirmed a male, while Divot is a confirmed female. While we don’t know where Orion spends his winters, we do know they have been sighted in the Salish Sea since 2009. He was not a calf when he was spotted, so Orion is at least 14 years old.
Divot has been sighted in the Salish Sea since 2008 and is known to winter in Hawaii. Divot is also a very successful mother. She returned with a calf in 2011 - Zephyr, whose photo covers the wall in our office. She also had a calf in 2014, another in 2018 - Olympus, and another in 2021. Divot is also a grandmother, twice! Her daughter Zephyr had her first calf in 2019 and another just last year, returning to the Salish Sea with both, just as mom, Divot, showed her back in 2011. Hopefully, we see Zephyrs calves return again this year. Watching our humpbacks grow from calf to adult and continue their family tree is one of the most exciting things about our jobs.
We stopped to check on our seals before returning to our harbour for the evening.
Enjoy the photos of our wildlife taken by senior marine naturalist Ryan Uslu.
T137A Jack - We don’t know how he got those notches in his dorsal, but they come in handy when we are trying to ID our whales on the water.
Jack being the star of the show, as usual
T137D Wright, Jack’s youngest sister, is also easy to ID thanks to the large notch near the tip of her fin.
We love a good eye patch! Thanks Jack!
The eye patch on each side s different! Can you spot any differences from Jacks right to left side?
The scaring in Jacks saddle patch can also be used to ID him in the future, if there ever is another male who ends up with similar notches in their dorsal fin.
Little T137D Wright isn’t so little anymore! at 10 years old it won’t be long before she begins to have her own calves.
T137D Wright
T137A Jack
T137D Wright
Believe it or not, the photos of the whale above and below are the same whale! Taken only a few seconds apart, it’s amazing how different they can look with only a slight angle change.
T137D Wright
Our matriarch T137 Loon! She’s smaller than her kids even though she’s turning at least 38 this year! Loon hasn’t had a kid in 10 years, though there is time yet for her to have a few more.
Jack following close behind his mom Loon in true Orca fashion. We always say that orca boys are the biggest mommas boys!
Orion going for a deep dive
Orion’s tail looks different every year and we find ourselves updating his pictures every season. Happy to see this big boy back in our waters!
Look at all those scratches!
