February 19, 2024 - Fan favourites in the Southern Gulf Islands, The T018s!
It was gearing up to be a lovely family day here in Nanaimo as our vessel left the dock at 11:00 am to begin the search for whales. Lucky for us, we had a shore-based report nearby to start the search with! We had got word that a pod of Orca had gone through Gabriola Pass and were now visible from Valdes Island. Since this is only about a 20-minute zip from our dock, of course we wanted to check it out!
We headed south in Northumberland Channel, headed through the beautiful Dodd Narrows and towards DeCourcy Island. This is where we spotted them in the distance, the pod of Orca that we were looking for! We were able to very quickly ID these whales, since they are one of the more common, and iconic pods in our waters. It was the T018s! This pod consists of 4 members:
T018 Esperanza ♀ (≤1955)
T019 Nootka ♀ (≤1965)
T019C Spouter ♂ (2001)
T019B Galiano ♂ (1995)
Usually with this pod, the first whale to give them away is Galiano with his huge, slightly bent dorsal fin and notch out of it part way up. This time though, it was his brother, Spouter! Spouter is also a large impressive whale, and he also has a very unique feature, a wave to his dorsal fin! This was what they spotted on the water first, and then it was confirmed with the rest of the pod.
These whales are a great example of the social structure of the Killer Whales in the area. They are all matriarchal, meaning that it’s the females who are in charge. This means that Esperanza makes the decisions for this pod, even though her grandsons tower over her. Her Daughter, Nootka seems to not always like this, as sometimes this pod travels in groups of two instead of all together. It is usually Esperanza and Spouter in one pair, and Nootka and Galiano in the other. This isn’t too surprising as orca moms tend to have a preference for their firstborn son, especially after their other offspring have dispersed.
Today though, we were lucky that there was no family squabble happening, and all four were together. We spent time with them as they travelled north in Stuart Channel towards Dodd Narrows. Dodd Narrows is a breathtaking area that has a high amount of biodiversity thanks to the strong currents it creates. Today there wasn’t much in the way of current for our whales to fight, but there was an interesting obstacle, a tug boat towing a log boom! These logs are transported all over the coast of BC, usually getting delivered to harbours to be loaded on freighters to be shipped all over the world, or to Pulp Mills to be ground up into paper as well as a huge variety of other products. Luckily the boat itself made it through the narrowest spot before the whales got there, but the logs were still transiting.
The orca didn’t seem to mind though, as they swam through sharing the space with the logs. We had a bit more trouble though since our boats needed to share the narrow area as well!
The T018s continued to travel North in Northumberland Channel until we left them near the Gabriola Bluffs!
We continued looking for other wildlife after leaving the T018s to their travels, and we ended up finding Harbour Seals, Sea Lions, and some seabirds before finding ourselves back in the Nanaimo Harbour. Our Onboard Naturalist, Vanessa Vereschahen, captured some amazing photos of both the whales and pinnipeds today which you can enjoy below!
A photo showing the curve to T019B Galiano’s dorsal fin. You can also see the distinct notch.
T019C Spouter travelling toward Dodd Narrows.
A great look at the waviness that T019C Spouter has to his Dorsal Fin.
T019C Spouter heading through Dodd next to the log boom, also heading through at the same time.
A close up of T019C Spouter.
T019B Galiano close up.
A big exhale from T019C Spouter.
T019B Galiano Cruising the shore of Gabriola Island.
T019C Spouter in front of Gabriola Island.
T019B Galiano.
T019C Spouter must have been moving fast, producing this big wave.
T019 Nootka travelling fast in Northumberland Channel.
T019 Nootka travelling beside her favourite son, T019B Galiano.
T019 Nootka.
A Bald Eagle on the rocks.
A great look at the Coastal Mountains.
A curious Harbour Seal Hanging onto the last minutes of this rock before the tide takes it over.
More Harbour Seals hauled out on the rocks.
A large Steller Sea Lion in the haul out.
Sometimes they don’t like sharing the area.
Look at how many of them there were on the rocks!
A brave gull lands amongst the sea lions.
“What are you looking at” - This Steller Sea Lion, probably.
A California Sea Lion on a large log.
A very sleepy California Sea Lion at the log booms at Harmac.