October 13, 2023 - The T035As and T038As Hunting as well as 7 different humpbacks!
It was a very exciting day to spend on the water. We started the day by heading out into the Strait of Georgia, over towards the Sunshine Coast which has been a great place to find whales lately. It didn’t take long before we saw the telltale sign of a whale ahead of our boat, a blow! Actually, it seems like there were a bunch of large blows together, likely a group of humpbacks!
We got closer to these blows and had our suspicions confirmed, it was humpback whales! There was a group of 4 whales travelling closely together, but it seemed we broke up the party and soon after we arrived, this group of 4 split into two pairs and started travelling away from each other. We identified one of these whales as Kappa (BCX0158). She was travelling with a whale who wasn’t very cooperative with their tail, so we didn’t end up getting it matched with any whales. It will remain a mystery for now. This is also the case for the other pair that broke off since we didn’t manage to get any identifiable photos of those two either. These whales seemed to be slowly travelling as we watched them, not being under the water for much time, but this contributes to why we didn’t get an ID for them.
After spending time watching these animals we saw even more blows in the distance and decided to try and figure out who those whales were. We arrived and saw three more humpback whales. These whales were also being shy with their tails, but luckily for us, they had distinct dorsal fins, and we had a cow-calf pair. This Mother and calf were Graze (BCY0523) and her 2023 calf! Travelling with them was Slice (BCX1057calf2021)! This was a bit of an unusual pairing, but we see all sorts of strange associations of whales you would expect during our tours!
While we were watching these whales, we got word from another boat that there was another species spotted not too far away: Orca! We decided to leave our humpbacks behind and go towards Howe Sound where these whales were spotted. There was 6 whales that we saw there in two pods: The T035As and T038As! This means we were watching the following whales:
T035A Lester ♀ (1998)
T035A1 Opal (2010)
T035A2 Topaz (2013)
T035A3 Garnet (2018)
T038A Dana ♀ (2000)
T038A2 (2020)
We found this group in the middle of hunting, we could tell since there was a ton of surface activity, and we could see the poor prey in the water. At one point it seemed that the seal came over to the boat and was sheltering under it, as the orca started coming closer to our adrift vessel and circling it, making runs underneath it! Although exciting to see for the guests and crew, it’s a very rare occurrence and not something we want to happen frequently. The prey interacting with our vessel might change the outcome of the hunt, and we want to get a glimpse into their natural behaviour, not interfering. In the moment, there’s nothing we can do, as turning the boat on to try and get away would be much more disturbing for the animals. Plus, Orca are one of the most intelligent species on earth, so they can work around this small obstacle. Such was the case today, as the prey wasn't seen again, but the orca started their celebration after their meal! What a special thing to witness! We also were lucky enough to see another strange and uncommon behaviour, when one of the orcas hit another out of the water! We have seen this before, and it’s theorized that it could be the whales playing or maybe there is a disagreement and they are having a fight. But we know this doesn’t hurt the whales (at least not in a long-term way).
After watching the orca hunt, it was time for us to start the journey back to Nanaimo where we returned to the dock with everyone happy with the variety of wildlife they got to see today! Vanessa Vereschahen, the onboard Marine Naturalist, got some amazing photos of all these encounters which you can see below!
Our unknown and Kappa diving side by side.
The wonderful complex markings of the underside of Kappa’s Flukes. You can see the “K” shape on the right side which is her name sake
Kappa and the unknown very close together.
Hopefully, we will be able to Id this whale based on this partial fluke, but we still haven’t had any luck so far.
Kappa doing a very funky dive. Can you spot the second humpback in this photo?
Kappa’s dorsal fin with the unknowns just beside her.
Slice’s distinct dorsal fin.
Graze has scars on her dorsal that make her easy to ID, even when she doesn’t cooperate with her tail (which she usually doesn’t).
The underside of Slice’s tail!
T038A Dana surfacing, with some evidence of the hunt just behind her.
T035A2 Topaz spy hopping amongst the rest of her family.
One of the whales gets hit out of the water by another!
You can see the other whale more clearly in this photo.
T035A Lester surfacing wit her youngest, T035A4.
Garnet surfacing in front of another smaller whale, likely T035A5’s tail.
A great look at T035A Lester.
T035A1 is a 13 year old whale who still hasn’t been sexed yet. In the coming years, it’ll be easy to tell. If they develop a Sprouting larger fin we know they are male, if not, they are likely female.
T035A Lester surfacing with T035A3 Garnet.
This white patch makes T038A Dana super easy to ID from this side. She doesn’t have a mark on the other side.
A tail flick from one of the youngsters.
The Sea Lions using the last bit of Stinky Rocks before the tide gets too high.
Look at the size of this large male!
A sea lion posing in front of Mt. Baker.
Some interesting seal yogi going on here.
The coastal mountains looked beautiful with the glow from the setting sun.