April 11, 2024 - T-party in the Strait, and a surprise pod close to home!
We began today’s trip by heading southbound through Dodd Narrows. There were a couple of sea lions porpoising through the currents as we continued our journey into the Southern Gulf Islands.
Unfortunately, we spotted an entangled sea lion on Canoe Islets. While we are not equipped to disentangle animals ourselves, it is important to report these sightings to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO).
If you spot an injured, stranded, sick, or deceased marine mammal, please report your sighting to the BC Marine Mammal Response Network (Observe, Record, Report) by calling 1-800-465-4336.
After sending in some photos alongside other important information, we continued southeast toward an early report of Grey whales. No one currently had eyes on these whales, so we were searching all by ourselves! We scanned and scanned, but the grey whales were nowhere to be seen today. It seemed like the whales were being extra elusive, but we hadn’t given up hope! After leaving the area where the Greys had been seen we turned and started crossing back across the Strait of Georgia. About halfway back across we heard about a group of whales spotted along the ferry line. We were back into search mode, scanning and scanning until we got word that a different boat had found them! We puttered over to find out there was a T-party (group of multiple Transient orca pods interacting) together in the middle of the Strait.
Fan-favourite Chainsaw was by far the easiest whale to spot in the T-party, but there were some other memorable faces in the mix too! T137A Jack, the other mature male present, was also towering over the females and pre-pubescent males present. While they were travelling very fast we were able to snap some shots of them as seen below. We were able to ID 12 whales present today:
T036A Leland ♀ (1990)
T036A1 Tierna ♀ (2005)
T036A1A (2002)
T036A2 Kailas ♀ (2012)
T036A3 Storm/Mike III ♂ (2015)
T036A5 (2021)
T065 Whidbey II ♀ (~1971)
T063 Chainsaw ♂ (~1978)
T137 Loon ♀ (1984)
T137A Jack ♂ (2002)
T137B Tempest ♀ (2006)
T137D Wright ♀ (2012)
These pods were super excited. They were travelling quickly, and many of the pod members were seen porpoising out of the water. T063 Chainsaw and his mother T065 Whidbey II were travelling close together near the back of the group while everyone else was busy socializing and being as close together as possible. These T-parties are the perfect time for young whales to learn about their peers, and for mature whales to breed. We watched in awe as the pods travelled before we had to say our goodbyes and continue on our way.
As we were making our way back to home port we suddenly saw more dorsals popping out of the water! These whales were travelling very quickly and surfacing very shallowly. One of the pod members, the youngster of the group would surface and then vanish in the blink of an eye! These 4 were identified as the T046B1s travelling with T046C2 Sam, an extended family member:
T046B1 Tread ♀ (2003)
T046B1A Tsakani ♀ (2015)
T046B1C (2022)
T046C2 Sam ♀ (1994)
T046C2 Sam is a young whale with an interesting backstory. Back in 2013, Sam became trapped in Weeteam Bay all by herself. She was stuck in there so long that she began developing “peanut head”, a condition caused by lack of food.
Sam’s story resonates with us a lot right now, as T109A3A kʷiisaḥiʔis (Brave Little Hunter) is currently still refusing to leave the Zabellos Causeway after her mother T109A3 Spong passed away from stranding in March. Rescue efforts are in the works right now, and we hope kʷiisaḥiʔis can be successfully removed from the waterway and reintroduced to the ocean soon.
Photos by Marine Naturalist Cheyenne Brewster.
A sleepy pile of sea lions.
Some of the curious sea lions were watching us as we watched them.
Look at those whiskers!
Can you spot the entanglement? It looked like it was some kind of hoop stuck on its poor neck.
Look at those gums and teeth!
T137A Jack’s distinct dorsal fin.
T137A Jack travelling along.
T137A Jack in the front, T036A Leland and the back, and another blowing right between them.
All in a line! T036A Leland and T137A Jack’s dorsals visible, with two other whales’ noses visible.
T036A2 Kailas. Notice the notch out of the tip of her dorsal? We use that to confirm her ID!
T063 Chainsaw with his iconic dorsal fin cutting through the seas.
T046B1 Tread - her dorsal is very tall and straight for a female orca.
T046B1 Tread with her youngest T046B1C behind her.
Sideprofile of T046C2 Sam - she was travelling further off that the T046B1s.
A flock of cormorants on Canoe Islets.
These cormorants were all waddling together along the edge of the islet!