August 24, 2023, 10:30 - T099s and lots of HB friends
Although there was some wind and clouds as we left the harbour on the morning of August 24th, we didn’t let that dampen our spirits. We had three boats out taking different routes to travel towards a report of Transient Orca travelling near the Mainland Coast. Two of our vessels made it there without coming across other wildlife, but one boat ended up seeing some splashing from humpback activity in the distance. Pulling up to these whales the first two were very easy to ID, It was Kelpie (KEZ0009) and Niagara (BCY0057) travelling with another whale who we later determined to be MMY0223! These whales decided to stop their surface activity as we approached and instead got curious about our vessel instead. We had the three of them do a close pass, circling around to get a better look, and then Kelpie and Niagara moved on, satisfied with the look they got. MMY0223 had other plans though. They held us there for over 15 minutes since when the whales are closer than 100m we can’t start our engines up. We didn’t mind too much though, and it’s a unique experience getting to see these massive animals up close and personal like that. Unfortunately, due to some technical difficulties, none of the photos from the onboard naturalist survived to be included in the blog.
After this encounter this vessel went and joined with the others to see those transient orca mentioned earlier. This pod was seen off of the North Arm of the Frasier River and it seemed to us that they were hunting! The members of the pod present were:
T099 Bella (1984)
T099B Holly (2007)
T099C Barakat (2009)
T099D Puck (2015)
T099E (2021)
These 5 whales were surfacing quickly and sporadically as we were watching them, one of the indications that theres a hunt going on under the water. Soon it seemed that they were successful since the gulls moved in the pick up the scraps, and the celebrations commenced!
We saw a ton of tail slapping, breaching, and chin slapping from the whales as they socialized with their bellies full. It’s always amazing to watch these happy healthy whales in celebration mode.
After a while the T099s continued into travel mode, our time with them was up, so the boats started the crossing back to Nanaimo. Now it was the other two boats turn to have their humpback encounter. They found Snoopy (BCY0770) easily, since he was breaching out of the water! Seeing a humpback throw its entire body out of the water is a rare thing since it takes a lot of energy to launch 35 tons of whale. Each breach uses the same amount of energy as a human running an entire marathon! Snoopy breached a handful of times before continuing to just travel through the Strait. No one really knows for sure why humpbacks breach, but there are a few leading theories. It might be for long-distance communication, since the impact of their body onto the water creates a huge noise that can be heard from many miles. It might also be to knock the parasites off their bodies since they have three common parasites: Acorn Barnacles, Goose-necked Barnacles, and Whale Lice. When it gets really bad a humpback can have hundreds of pounds of parasites present. This increases the drag on the whale, making them have to eat even more food to have the proper energy to swim. The final theory is an easy one, and that’s that it is just really fun to jump around in the water! Sometimes breaching is accompanied by other surface activities that seem very playful in nature. Calves will also be seen doing this behaviour more often which leads to the theory that it might be entertaining for them.
Before returning to harbour we also got to see some of our Pinniped friends on Sticky Rocks, where there was both Steller Sea Lions and Harbour Seals Hauled out enjoying the little bit of sun peaking through the clouds.
Upon returning to the harbour we were very happy with all of the different wildlife that we were able to spot during this tour and all the unique experiences we had with each of them! Please enjoy all the photos from the day that were taken by the onboard Naturalists Aly Kohlman, Des Poier, and Val Watson.
T099C Barakat surfacing in the waves. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
A very beat up tail fluke up in the air. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
T099B Holly surfacing behind T099D Puck. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Look how big T099C Barakat’s dorsal fin is getting! Photo by Aly Kohlman.
T099 Bella Surfacing with her eye patch visible. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Barakat’s tail up out of the water! Photo by Des Poier.
T099C Barakat showering himself with the blow. Photo by Des Poier.
Brothers T099C Barakat and T099D Puck surfacing together. Photo by Val Watson.
T099C Barakat in behind his sister T099B Holly. Photo by Val Watson.
T099C Barakat. Photo by Val Watson.
T099D Puck diving back beneath the surface. Photo by Des Poier.
T099B Holly breaking the surface in front of her brother T099D Puck. Photo by Des Poier.
A lively look at the notches on T099B Holly’s dorsal fin Photo by Des Poier.
Flukes up! Photo by Des Poier.
One of the T099s breaching! Photo by Val Watson.
T099C Barakat breaching. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
A bigger breach by T099C Barakat. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
T099C Barakat Showing off his tail. Photo by Val Watson.
Perhaps mom and baby doing a synchronized tail slap? Photo by Val Watson.
Snoopy lifting his tail to dive. Photo by Des Poier.
Touchdown! Snoopy breaching. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Look at Snoopys long pectoral fin. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
You can clearly see the parasitic barnacles on Snoopy’s chin. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Snoopy Breaching. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Snoopy. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
A horizontal Snoopy. Photo by Des Poier.
The underside of Snoopy’s tail. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
A mom and pup harbour seal. Photo by Des Poier.
Photo by Des Poier.
Steller Sea lion Yoga. Photo by Des Poier.
A bunch of sleepy sea lions. Photo by Des Poier.