March 23, 2024 - The T036As right off Piper's Lagoon!
When we pushed off of the dock today we were eager to start cruising. A fresh report had come in, mentioning orca being spotted in Northwest Bay, a gorgeous area north of Nanaimo. We turned northwards and started our adventure… but then we ran into a bit of a surprise along the way. We didn’t have to go all the way to Northwest Bay to find whales today, as we were able to spot a different pod right outside Piper’s Lagoon instead!
When we first located these whales they were travelling very fast, zig-zagging along. It appeared that they were hunting. Shortly after our initial approach, they slowed down to feast. When orca have successful hunts, it is common to see large congregations of gulls and other birds following close behind, picking up scraps off the surface of the water. That is exactly what we observed today - many gulls began dive-bombing the waters near the whales, soaring away with their lunch. Once the whales were snacking we were able to ID them as the T036As, a pod consisting of 6 members:
T036A Leland ♀ (1990)
T036A1 Tierna ♀ (2005)
T036A1A (2022)
T036A2 Kailas ♀ (2012)
T036A3 Storm/Mike III ♂ (2015)
T036A5 ♂ (2021)
Once our time with the T036As was up we turned back south and began looping around Gabriola Island. There are quite a few haulouts where Harbour Seals and Sea lions tend to rest around the island, but unfortunately today they all seemed to be busy foraging in the water. We popped in through Gabriola Pass and took a view at the Southern Gulf Islands before making our way back to our home port.
All photos of this beautiful encounter were taken by onboard Marine Naturalist Vanessa Vereschahen. Please enjoy!
T036A1 Tierna with her calf surfacing T036A1A behind her, and another family member beside them.
T036A1A with their beautiful eyepatch visible!
T036A Leland has a nearly perfect dorsal fin with the tiniest notch about a third of the way down.
T036A2 Kailas - her dorsal fin has a unique notch right at the tip which makes her easy to ID.
T036A1 Tierna bringing her eye above the surface.
T036A2 Kailas with T036A1A right behind her.
T036A1A seemed very determined to keep pace with T036A2 Kailas and the rest of the pod!
T036A1 Tierna with her calf T036A1A just about to clear the water’s surface!
T036A1A sticking close to their mother’s side.
T036A1 Tierna and her calf T036A1A .
T036A1 Tierna and her calf T036A1A - this calf was very active during today’s trip.
T036A Leland is sporting a new scratch through her eyepatch.
T036A Leland - she’s so round!
T036A2 Kailas with her brother T036A3 Storm/Mike III right behind her.
A big pile of whales!
A big spyhop from T036A1 Tierna.
A young gull soaring by during the stop with whales.