We began our morning tour with a trip north. We had received a report of whales near Nanoose Bay so we decided to head that direction. It didn’t take us very long to find them, and our boats actually stumbled across the pod broken into two groups. It was Noah travelling by himself further south, and then the rest of the family (other than Jude) hunting up north near the Ballenas Islands. All the whales we saw today were:

T049A Nan ♀ (1986)
T049A1 Noah ♂ (2001)
T049A3 Nat ♂ (2011)
T049A4 Neptune ♂ (2014)
T049A5 Nebula ♀ (2017)
T049A6 (2022) Nicknamed Charlie II

Noah, Nan’s eldest son, was up to his usual shenanigans. During our morning tour he was zig zagging close to the Lantzville shoreline, far away from the rest of his family. This is pretty common for Noah, he tends to travel close enough to his family that they can be in communication, but he will be off doing his own thing. Today was no different, as his family and him stayed separated throughout the morning and afternoon while we were watching them.

While Noah was off on his own the rest of the family were working together to coordinate a hunt. Hunting with our orca is usually a whole family affair, as they will work together to take down their prey and then share their kill among the different members of the pod. It seemed like they were successful in their hunt as there was celebrations after the action, with tail slaps and even a spy hop!

We ended up leaving these guys still milling off of the islands and headed closer to home to check out some other wildlife.

Soon our vessels returned to harbour and soon we were right back at it, with the afternoon tours going to see if they could pick these whales back up again! It was much tricker in the afternoon, since these whales seemed to now be on a mission. The T049As had covered a lot of ground since the morning, as we found them very close to Gabriola Island for the afternoon. Noah was still not with the rest of his family, although shore based reports place him not too far away. These whales were travelling super close to shore on Gabriola Island, making land based viewing amazing! We also got some great looks at these whales as they headed towards Entrance Island and continued south down the shoreline. Once our hour was up, we continued to see the other local wildlife close by.

During our evening tour’s visit at the Bluffs, we witnessed a couple of Gulls very anxiously flying around and calling out. It turns out there was a Bald eagle sitting in one of the trees the Cormorants are often perched in, as well as a Peregrine Falcon sitting at the top of the cliff looking down at the Cormorants. For birds of prey such as eagles and falcons, the rookery at the Bluffs is a buffet, hence why the gulls and cormorants must have been nervous.

It was great to get to glimpse into the lives of the T049As today and got to see a wide variety of behaviour throughout the day with them. Today’s photos were taken by Marine Naturalists Cheyenne Brewster, Ella Hillbrecht, and Aly Kohlman and can all be viewed below!

July 11, 2023 - T049As were travelling south in the Strait of Georgia

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