Today was a bright sunny day with great conditions for a boat trip. We had to travel quite a distance to reach our whales. We had a report of orca by Prevost island and decided to make the trek. The long drive was worth it in the end when we found one of our well-known families the T099 matriline who were putting on show for us.

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

It’s always an extra special day for us when our orcas decide to exhibit a lot of surface behaviours such as breaching, spy hopping and fluking. Often times we see these behaviours in what’s known as a T-Party, where multiple matrilines come together to socialize. Another time we see these types of behaviours is when the orca are celebrating a successful hunt. Perhaps that's what the T099’s were doing today!

Our T099’s are a very successful family when it comes to hunting. The T099’s are Bigg’s or Transient killer whales and this means that they eat marine mammals. This includes anything from seals all the way up to our larger baleen whales. It is rare for our Bigg’s to attempt predation on larger whales and it is even rarer for them to be successful. That being said, in October our T099’s along with another well-known family the T065A’s were triumphant in a Minke whale hunt which is quite the feat!

As we made our way back towards Nanaimo our day turned into a double species day by finding a humpback whale that we ID’d as BCX1275. This is especially lucky because a lot of our humpbacks have not yet finished the return journey from their breeding ground in Mexico and Hawaii. Those warmer climates are great for giving birth to calves but there is little to no food for the whales while they are down there. So when the whales complete their migration (a journey of about 5000 kms) they are hungry! It’s been months since they’ve had a proper meal and now they will spend the entire summer eating 3000-5000 pounds of food a day. Well, we don’t know if BCX1275 is male or female, our female humpbacks often have to do this with the added burden of pregnancy or a calf. Sometimes pregnancy and a calf!

We also got to see our harbour seals and made our way to Entrance island. This island is beautiful to see just on its own with the towering red and white lighthouse, but today we had the added bonus of seeing our stellar sea lions as well. While our humpbacks are returning from their breeding grounds for the summer, our sea lions will soon be leaving us to head to theirs so it is always a nice treat to be able to see so many species in one day.

Today’s photos were taken by Des Poier.

May 15, 2023 - T099's by Prevost Island, HB out of Porlier Pass

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