Our tour today was a bit different from normal. We got word of two orca quickly travelling by Jack Point. One of our Zodiacs took off early to try and locate them. They found the pair quickly travelling side by side as they made their way into the Strait of Georgia. This duo was ID’d as half of the T018 matriline:

T019 Nootka ♀ (~1965)
T019 Galiano ♂ (1995)

After we handed the pair off to the other vessels our Zodiac returned and zoomed off to join the party. Nootka and Galiano were quite spread out today, with Galiano travelling parallel to the Vancouver Island coastline and Nootka further out into the Strait.

The T018s have been an interesting group to see this season. In previous years all 4 members would regularly travel together. However, now Nootka and Galiano regularly break off and travel by themselves. We have no idea why, but we hope that all of them are happy and healthy regardless!

At first, this pair was being a very typical pair of orca - just travelling and cruising along. During most trips, this is a standard behaviour. However, today Nootka decided to change it up a bit. After travelling further into the Strait, Nootka suddenly showed off her amazing hunting prowess. She called Galiano over to her and the pair quickly began porpoising (travelling fast by doing small jumps out of the water) together. The two began breaching (jumping fully out of the water), and then the hunt began. Nootka had located a lone harbour porpoise which she and Galiano quickly began circling. They were chasing it around and around…and then suddenly, BAM! Nootka smacked the harbour porpoise into the air! It was an incredible sight to see and it was amazing just how fast these two took this porpoise down. In under 5 minutes, the duo went from travelling, to hunting, to feeding, and then once again to travelling. Talk about ‘fast food’!

After departing these two we stumbled upon a couple of humpbacks also travelling in the Strait of Georgia. We found one pair doing deep dives off of Halibut Bank and one pair near Thrasher Rock. We ID’d these humpbacks as:

Kappa (BCX0158), an Unknown, Zig Zag (BCX1193), and Zig Zag’s 2023 calf (BCX1193 calf 2023)

Kappa and her friend were very busy feeding today as they did deep dives around Halibut Bank. These two are busily packing on as many pounds as possible before they depart for their breeding grounds. According to Happywhale, Kappa returns to Hawaii every March. While we do not have an ID on her friend yet as they were not fluking, we are working on IDing them by their dorsal fin. If we are able to get an ID from their dorsal we will update our findings here!

Zig Zag and her calf appeared to be snoozing when we found them. Just like with Kappa and her friend, these two are putting on as much weight as possible before they travel down to the breeding grounds. Calves generally stay with their mother for one full year before they take off to explore the world by themselves. That way they learn how to get to and from the feeding ground and breeding grounds, and they know the safest routes to travel.

We also spotted another orca near Zig Zag and her calf. This loner was ID’d as:

T065A5 Indy ♂ (2014)

Indy regularly travels by himself now. This used to be uncommon for young orca, but it seems to be a new trend. We now have at least 4 younger orca that are known to travel by themselves regularly.

After departing our whales we stopped at Stinky Rocks to see our seals and sea lions snoozing. This has been a popular spot for our pinnipeds to haul out on this year.

These fantastic captures were taken by Marine Naturalists Cheyenne Brewster, Aly Kohlman, and Vanessa Vereschahen.