Today we got to visit the T099’s, also known as the “Gretzkys”, travelling by Tree Island. Tree Island is one of the smallest inhabited islands in the Southern Gulf Islands - it sports a single house with a rock breakwater and a small dock area. Can you imagine stepping onto your deck for your morning coffee, to the sight of a pod of orcas swimming within 20 metres of your house? Now that would be a perfect morning in our opinion!

The T099’s/Gretzky’s consist of 5 pod members:

T099 Bella (♀, ~1984)
T099B Holly (♀, 2007)
T099C Barakat (♂,2009)
T099D Puck (♂, 2015)
T099E (♀, 2021)

If you aren’t Canadian, chances are this pod nickname will be a reference you do not understand. Wayne Gretzky is a beloved Canadian Hockey player. So, why is this pod nicknamed after him? It has to do with their numerical designation (the T099’s) - Gretzky’s jersey number was 99! T099D, Puck, also earned his nickname as a homage to the famous hockey player.

It’s very exciting to observe this pod year after year and get to see how they grow and change in that time. For instance, Barakat appears to be sprouting (starting puberty). His dorsal fin is beginning to elongate and straighten out. He is quite impressive to see swimming beside his relatively small family members - his dorsal is almost double the size of his mother Bella’s dorsal! Puck, the youngest male of the pod, is a great example of why it’s so important to keep up-to-date records on changes to orca dorsal fins. In the 2019 ID guide for Transient orca, his fin is perfectly smooth. In fact, it has a very similar appearance to his mother Bella’s dorsal fin. However, sometime in the past few years, a new notch has formed near the tip of his dorsal. It’s very small and subtle, but it makes it much easier to tell him apart from other orcas now.

The T099’s are thought to be a part of a very successful family line. It’s suspected that Bella is related to the T137’s, T036A’s, and T036B’s and that T036 Flapjack is the mother to these 4 successful ladies. All 5 of these matriarchs are common visitors to our area, so maybe we will get to have a giant family reunion one day!

After spending some time with our orca, we left to find some other wildlife. Today we got to see a small group of harbour seals snoozing in the waves, a large group of sea lions up on the rocks, and a large raft of sea lions finning (see photo below) in the water!

Today’s photos were taken by Marine Naturalist Vanessa Vereschahen.

February 21, 2023 - The T099's cruising by Tree Island

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