August 26, 2023, 10:30 - T023s and T018s hunting close to home, Squirrel the Humpback, and a surprise encounter with the T065As

You know it’s going to be a great day when you only have to travel 10 minutes to find whales! Today we found our group just west of Snake Island, a mixture of two pods on a mission through the five fingers islets. Today’s members include:

T023 Janice ♀ 1964)
T023D Axle ♀ (1993)
T023D4 Sixx (2015)
T023D5 (2019)

T018 Esperanza ♀ (1955)
T019 Nootka ♀ (1965)
T019B Galiano ♂ (1995)
T019C Spouter ♂ (2001)

These two families were on the hunt, circling through the islands looking for a meal. It was so impressive watching them split up to look for harbour seals, going right up to the rocks. We saw a good amount of activity from these whales as well, with some tail slaps, belly rolls, and some pec slaps. These are all behaviours commonly seen after a hunt, so it was no surprise these rambunctious whales were so active! After sharing a meal together, the two families parted ways, with the T023s heading south to Gabriola and into Northumberland Channel, and the T18s deciding to head out towards Entrance Island. We followed them for a little bit alongside the northern tip of Gabriola, watching them snake in and out of the rocky outcrops lazily looking for more seals. We left them here, and decided to head south towards Stinky Rocks, one of our favourite spots off of Valdez Island.

Our semi-covered boat Kula led the charge, and ended up finding a Humpback along the way! It was Scorch, the 2020 calf to Flame. Naming humpbacks can get complicated, so it’s not uncommon that they have several names. Scorch is also known as Smoke as per their Happy Whale profile, or Squirrel here locally. Looking at Scorch’s fluke you might believe the large mark on the fluke to be the namesake, but they actually were named Scorch prior to this injury. Many of Flame’s calves have fire-related names, so it’s pure coincidence Scorch appears to have a ‘scorch mark’. This distinctive marker is the result of an unknown accident but has healed nicely into the unique fluke they have today. Check out the photos below to take a closer look!

After hanging out with Scorch, we continued onto Stinky Rocks to check out the ever-entertaining Steller Sea Lions, and the calm and collected Harbour Seals. The cormorants were also out today, enjoying the perch over the water, with a Great Blue Heron nearby. But while Kula and Keta watched the wildlife on the rocks, Cascadia found a surprise pod of Orca! While we are lucky to get reports of a lot of our orca nearby, many times we find them ourselves while we are travelling. And this pod was hard to miss. We caught them at the end of a hunt, so they were pretty excited. Guests were treated to some breaching and other surface activity. This pod includes:

T065A Fingers/Artemis ♀ (1986)
T065A2 Ooxjaa ♂ (2004)
T065A3 Amir♂ (2007)
T065A4 Ellifrit ♀ (2011)
T065A6 Callisto ♀ (2018)

While Cascadia hung out with their unexpected encounter with the T065As, the rest of our fleet carried on for home, heading through Gabriola Pass towards Dodd Narrows. In an unexpected turn of events, we ran into the T023s again, the same group that was heading south earlier. We found them just off Round Island where they were -surprise surprise- hunting! All the orca we saw got some good meals this morning, and we got some more tail slaps out of this group as we watched in awe. It was a pretty phenomenal way to end the tour, and a day totally packed with whales!

Photos taken by Marine Naturalists Aly Kohlman, Des Poier, and Vanessa Vereschahen.

T019B Galiano surfacing in the Strait. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Pectoral fin up in the air! Photo by Des Poier.

T023 Janice surfacing behind another who is just about to break the surface. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

One of the boys with their tail in the air! Photo by Des Poier.

T023D Axle is looking a little bit beat up with all these new scars on her saddle patch. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

T023D Axle surfacing with T023D4 Sixx and T023D5 in behind her. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

T023 Janice in the back, T023D5, T023D4 Sixx and someone upside down doing a tail slap. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

T019B Galiano surfacing beside mom T019 Nootka. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

T023 Janice in front of another who just exhaled. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Coming right at ya! Photo by Aly Kohlman.

T023D5 surfacing during the hunt! Look at all those scars! Photo by Aly Kohlman.

T023 Janice mid-hunt! Photo by Aly Kohlman.

A very sociable photo with someone upside down, T019B Galiano surfacing in the background, and another just going under the surface. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

T023D Axle stalking a Harbour Seal. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

T019B Galiano doing a very fast surface. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

An itchy Steller Sea Lion. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

A big Steller Sea Lion with a big ol’ belly. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Great Blue Heron on the eroded rocks. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

A cormorant hanging out on Stinky Rocks. Look how blue it’s eye is! Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Cormorant photo bombing the seals. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

A Harbour Seal about to sneeze. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Squirrel surfacing! Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

The underside of Squirrel’s tail flukes. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Squirrel going for a dive. You can see their very distinct scarring. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

You can see the white from Squirrels Pectoral Fins in the water. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Squirrel creating quite the Fluke Waterfall. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Squirrel Going down for a dive. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

The Harbour Seals share the rock with some cormorants. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Breaching orca! Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Coming in for the touchdown! Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Tail slap! Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

T065A5 Indy charging along. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

T065A2 Ooxjaa with his sibling T065A4 Ellifrit. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

T065A2 Ooxjaa and a different pod member upside down. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

T065A5 Indy with his big brother T065A3 Amir. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

T065A2 Ooxjaa with T065A Artemis in the front. Artemis seems to have a new injury on the top edge of her dorsal. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

A Juvenile Gull on the rock. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Gull in flight in frony of a wave. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.