August 14th - Sherwina returns! And the T124 sisters come back to Nanaimo

What a day! We had two sightings before heading out during this morning’s tour. One humpback sighting and one orca sighting and it was a short journey today to find them.

We started going south out of Dodd Narrows and around through Gabriola pass, where we met up with Sherwina the humpback whale. Sherwina was first seen in 2017 and had a calf in 2021, which would make her at least ten years old. Humpback whales reach sexual maturity between 4 and 8 years old. The youngest mother on record was an 8-year-old named Zephyr, who we have seen out on our tours this summer. Sherwina likes to spend her winters in Hawaii. Today, as she was searching for the best krill to eat, she had frequent dives, showing off her lovely fluke.

The stellar sea lions at UM buoy were very energetic and playful, pushing each other off the buoy and giving us quite a show.

On our way back into the gulf islands, we met up with the T124 sisters South of Dodd Narrows and we followed them north towards Dodd, where they proceeded to follow us through the narrows, as we waited patiently on the north side for them to surface. They made us wait a good while, as their dive through Dodd Narrows under the marine traffic lasted a good ten minutes. When we left them, they were travelling around Gabriola Island, playing around the log booms and headed north.

The T124A2’s, led by the matriarch Elkugu, followed by her two children Agafia and Litton and Elkugu’s sister Sabio, T124A4, and her calf were the stars of the show

We met up with the same pod of orca during our afternoon trip. The T124A2s and T124A4s had made it further north and we spotted them between Snake Island and Five Fingers, just out of the Nanaimo harbour. The pod this afternoon was a little bit more active than this morning, performing some tail lobs and one spyhop!

Sherwina resting at the surface. Photo by Aly Kohlman 10:30

Elkugu leading her son Agafia and daughter Litton though the waters near Ladysmith. Photo by Aly Kohlman 10:30

Sabio’s one year old daughter follows close behind mom. Photo by Aly Kohlman 10:30

Sherwina is easy to ID with the unique shape of her dorsal fin. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen 10:30

Elkugu and her sister Sabio. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen 10:30

Sabio, Elkugu, and Litton. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen 10:30

T124A4A. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen 10:30

T124A4 Sabio. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen 10:30

Sabio and Agafia. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen 10:30

Little Litton. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen 10:30

Elkugu. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen 10:30

Bald eagle. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen 10:30

Everyone loves a good blep. Photo by Aly Kohlman 10:30

Jilann LechnerAugust 14, 2022Comment