August 28, 2023, 3:30 - Orca in Departure bay and MMX0355 continues the solo life

It was a great day as we had two of our vessels leave the dock and head out into the Strait of Georgia on the afternoon of August 28th. They were going to where we had seen humpbacks earlier in the day and sure enough, the whales were still hanging out there. Our humpback whales can be a bit more predictable than the Orca are since once they find an area of high productivity they tend to spend more time in that area. This is of course valuable, and the “same area” can be miles around.

Thanks to some high-fluking dives in perfect positioning, we were able to quickly ID this whale as MMX0355! This afternoon MMX0355 was travelling slowly, likely doing feeding dives in the area. They would be diving below the surface in search of two main things in BC: Krill and small schooling fish! They have huge energy requirements for their massive 35-ton bodies daily, so they have to eat a ton (literally) of food to keep up! Since they’re eating tiny animals, they eat nearly a million animals daily. Even though orca are the apex predators, by straight numbers the humpbacks are the real killing machines!

After spending time with MMX0355 we heard word of something else in the area. It turns out the the second pod of the day was travelling inside of Departure Bay in Nanaimo! This rare occurrence actually happened earlier in the day during our morning tour when the T037As passes through. This time it was another one of our favourite pods: the T099s! They weren’t alone in their travels, they were joined by (likely) two other orca. We confirmed through our photos that T038C Borrowman was there thanks to his easy to spot birthmark, but since he has been travelling with his sibling we think it’s likely that the two were together here as well. That would make the orca spotted in departure bay:

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

T038C Borrowman (2008)
T038E Hocker (2017)

We absolutely love seeing the T099s. T099C Barakat is just starting to enter puberty and beginning to ‘sprout’ - meaning his dorsal fin is beginning to straighten and elongate. It’s always so magical seeing these young whales grow and become the fearsome giants that their adult counterparts are!

Another favourite amongst this pod is T099B Holly. She has two distinct notches near the tip of her dorsal. This sassy lady is regularly seen coming to the surface of the water just enough to cause a thin ‘blanket’ of water to form on her back. This is caused by surface tension, a force that acts amongst the water molecules, causing them to stretch to an elastic-like sheet over something that tries to emerge from it. You would also see surface tension in action if you have ever overfilled a glass of water and seen it making a dome across the top of the glass, just slightly above the rim of the glass. these interactions between water molecules are part of what makes it so important for the formation of life on earth since the attractive forces in a water molecule can catch not only other water molecules but other fun elements and molecules.

Seeing Borrowman today was an extra special encounter, and interesting that they are still travelling with the T099s since we saw them together during one of our tours on August 25th! We have absolutely no idea why these two have become so close with the T099s and are not with their own pod, but we hope they are happy as they travel/hunt with their new buddies!

Even our office got in on the whale watching this afternoon since these orca actually passed right by our doors! They entered the Nanaimo harbour at the south side, near the ferry across to Gabriola Island and then followed the narrow passageway between Newcastle island and Vancouver Island before doing a lap of Departure Bay and following the Shoreline of Newcastle Island south once more. This was our cue to leave, as our time was nearly up with the animals and there was a Thunder Storm moving in! While it didn’t seem to bother the whales, seeing the lightning streak across the sky made the decision to return to the harbour just that much easier.

Overall it was a fantastic trip spent with some very special whales, and we enjoyed every minute of it! The onboard Naturalist Carmen Murphy captured some great photos from the day which can be viewed below.

MMX0355 showing off his left dorsal fin!

MMX0355 Preparing to dive!

Sadly, it appears MMX0355 has some old entanglement scarring along his peduncle ridge.

MMX0355 lifting his tail while diving.

The underside of MMX0355’s tail which we used to ID him!

MMX0355 has a pretty simple fluke, except for one white line on the right side (seen here) and rake marks at the very tip of their flukes.

MMX0355 surfacing and showing off their blowholes, dorsal, back, and tubercles!

The right side of MMX0355’s dorsal surface.

MMX0355 creating a fluke waterfall while diving.

T099D Puck, T099 Bella, and T099B Holly.

T099B Holly in front of Jesse Island.

T099C Barakat with a friend beside him and his sister T099B Holly in the lead.

T099D Puck surfacing with his sister, T099B Holly.

T099C Barakat lifting his face above the waves - look at that surface tension!

T099C Barakat.

T099 Bella with T099C Barakat right behind her and T099E close by.

T099 Bella, T099C Barakat, and T099E surfacing together.

T099C Barakat with his little brother T099D Puck.

This Harbour seal looks a bit sad!

Harbour seals aren’t very graceful on land.

A curious harbour seal haphazardly balances on a rock.