October 5, 2023 - T-party with the T037As, T049A1, the T101s, and the T137s as well as Snoopy and Split Fluke

Our tour today started out with orca being spotted from shore not too far from Nanaimo. We decided to make the 20 minute trek up to Nanoose Bay where we ended up finding a whole lot of whales! It seemed like we had ourselves a t-party! This large group of whales was pretty spread out, but thanks to our large telephoto lenses on our cameras we were able to get IDs for all the whales we could see. When IDing orca we typically use their dorsal fins and saddle patches, although their eye patches and tails are also unique to each animal. Some of the whales were quite easy today, with obvious notches and large dorsal fins, and others we had to get down into the nitty gritty of scarring to figure out who it was. After some investigating we determined that there was 3 pods here travelling together: The T037As, T049A1, the T101s and the T137As! That means in the mix were the following whales:

T037A Volker ♀ (1994)
T037A2 Inky ♂ (2009)
T037A4 Crinkle ♀ (2015)

T049A1 Noah ♂ (2001)

T101 Reef ♀ (≤1969)
T101A Rush ♂ (1993)
T101 B Lagoon ♂ (1997)

T137 Loon ♀ (~1984)
T137A Jack ♂ (2002)
T137B Tempest ♀ (2006)
T137D Wright ♀ (2012)

While some of the younger whales and matriarchs seemed to be hunting in the distance, our boats weren’t able to get a closer look since the boys seemed to be messing with them. In particular, T101B Lagoon and T049A1 Noah kept popping up closer to the boat than we would have liked, meaning that we had to keep shutting down our engines and floating there until the whales moved the appropriate distance away again (200m in this case). These curious encounters seemed to come to a head when Lagoon circled the boat closely, in a behaviour known as mugging! This is very rare for an orca to do, so the guests and staff counted themselves lucky to have such a rare encounter.

Soon enough, our hour with the whales was up, and we continued on to see if there was any more wildlife nearby! It didn’t take long before we spotted the blows of humpback whales on the horizon and headed over to see who it was. It was two very unique whales travelling together: Snoopy (BCY0770) and Split Fluke (BCX1068). These two had a third unknown friend travelling with them for part of this time, but it never showed off its tail so we aren’t sure who it was!

Snoopy and Split Fluke on the other hand were closely associated, having synchronized movements, and diving and surfacing at the same time. More research is being done into how this benefits humpback whales, but there isn’t a solid answer yet. It’s still great to see them travelling together like this though, especially with two fully grown humpback whales. These large animals are always breathtaking to see.

After spending some time with the humpback whales, there was one final stop to make, and that was for Pinnipeds! Stinky Rock is one of our favourite places to see the Pinnipeds, or seals and sea lions, since there is always an abundance of animals and different species there. Today we saw a ton of Steller Sea Lions, Harbour Seals, and seabirds.

We returned to the Harbour after this, happy to have seen so much of the wildlife that calls the Salish Sea Home. Our naturalists Des Poier and Vanessa Vereschahen got some amazing photos from this trip which can be enjoyed below!

T037A2 Inky surfacing in the group. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

T049A1 Noah with his large dorsal fin cutting through the water. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

T101A Rush surfacing. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

T049A1 Noah. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

T049A1 Noah checking out the boat. Photo by Des Poier.

One of the boys coming towards the camera. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

T049A Noah swimming away. Photo by Des Poier.

T101 Reef in the distance. Photo by Des Poier.

T101B Lagoon got curious and came close to the boat! Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

T049A1 Noah surfacing in the sun. Photo by Des Poier.

T101B Lagoon! He has distinct scarring visible on the top of his saddle patch. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

T049A1 Noah surfacing with T101 Reef behind him. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

T049A1 Noah. Photo by Des Poier.

T137A Jack surfacing with the further group. Photo by Des Poier.

Snoopy has distinct scarring on his dorsal fin. Photo by Des Poier.

Snoopy surfacing with Split Fluke in front of him. Photo by Des Poier.

Snoopy doing a tail flick. Photo by Des Poier.

Split Fluke lifting her tail, preparing to dive. Photo by Des Poier.

Split Fluke diving. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Snoopy lifting his tail to dive. Photo by Des Poier.

Split Fluke ready to dive. Photo by Des Poier.

A fluke waterfall from Split Fluke, with a guest appearance of Snoopy’s blowholes. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Snoopy and Split Fluke blowing in the distance. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Snoopy diving. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

The underside of Snoopy’s tail flukes. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Guests watching from Kula. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

The most photogenic seal ever. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Harbour Seals hauled out on stinky rocks. Photo by Des Poier.

This poor seal looks like he’s blind in one eye. Photo by Des Poier.

Look at the size difference between these two Steller Sea Lions. Photo by Des Poier.

Steller Sea Lions hauled out on Stinky Rocks. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

This sea lion is being a little cheeky. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

A roaring sea lion. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Stampede into the water! Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

This sea lion checked out the boat from the water. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Some gulls also feeling the rowdy spirit from the sea lions. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

A California Sea Lion on the log booms near Harmac Pulp Mill. Photo by Des Poier.