September 9, 2023 - Two groups of orca, as well as 7 Humpback Whales!

It was a beautiful calm day as we had our two vessels head out into the Strait of Georgia to see what sort of wildlife we would be able to find. We started offt with a report of Orca travelling south near the Sunshine Coast, so we started heading in that direction. On the way to this report, our two boats got side-tracked by two different groups of Humpback Whales along the way!

The semi-covered boat found a single humpback travelling solo, who wasn’t up to too much when we first found them. They were doing the typical humpback thing, diving under the water for about 5 minutes before re-emerging to take a few sets of breaths again before continuing the cycle. When they went to dive, they lift their tails up out of the water, and when we can get a photo of this that’s what we use to ID them! The first humpback found was Velvet (BCY1186). After spending some time with them, we decided to continue along to those orca, but not before Velvet seemed to want to change out mind! Two huge splashes happened and then we saw two more cartwheels from Velvet before they continued travelling on their way. It was an amazing sight, especially considering the amount of energy it takes to throw around their 25-tonne body.

Leaving Velvet we spotted another group of 3 whales that were travelling closely together, we saw them all dive, and then we continued. These three were Pingu (BCY1110), Crackle (BCY0523 calf 2019), and Geometry (BCZ0338)!

While the Semi-covered boat was on that adventure, the open boat found its own set of Humpbacks! They saw two whales associating at this point. Associating means that they are travelling close together, likely able to touch, and their behaviour becomes synced. These two were surfacing, diving, and travelling together the whole time we watched them. From seeing them diving and getting looks at the bottom of their tail flukes we IDed these two as Split Fin (BCZ0298) and Raccoon (BCX1233)! We watched these two for a while before also continuing on to the Orca report from earlier.

Once again when they arrived the two boats found themselves watching different animals, although both Orca. The semi-covered boat found the T124Ds travelling with T101 who were just finishing up a hunt, apparent by the large cloud of blood in the water! The open boat, on the other hand, had the T100s travelling together, not too far away. All the orca seen today were:

T100 Hutchins ♀ (~1979)
T100C Laurel ♂ (2002)
T100F Estrella (2014)

T101 Reef ♀ (≤1969)

T124D Field ♀ (1996)
T124D1 Salish II (2014)
T124D3 (2022)

Although slightly different behaviour seen by the two boats, it goes to show you just how variable the animals can be and how theres no good or bad time to watch them. Every day we go out into the Salish Sea we are lucky to get a small glimpse into the lives of these animals, and you never really know what you’re going to see. All the whales have to eat, sleep, and travel throughout the day, but what they’ll be doing when we see them is totally unknown! It’s one of the best things about whale watching, that no two trips is ever the same!

There was one final sighting for the day, as he open boat found Twinning (BCX1207) on its way back to the Nanaimo Harbour! What a day!

The two naturalists onboard, Ella Hillbrecht and Val Watson got some pretty amazing photos from the day, all of which can be viewed below! Enjoy!