April 6, 2024 - T018s inside the Southern Gulf Islands
It was a day filled with luck as we left Nanaimo Harbour with a destination in mind! None of our whales here in the Salish Sea are tagged or chipped so we find them every day just with our eyes. Well, today was no different, we began our journey South for a report we had received earlier. This report was far South into our range looking like it was going to be a long trip, but we love being out on the water so off we went! Through Dodd Narrows and into the Southern Gulf Islands where we began our search. As we hurried along to our report all of a sudden with a stroke of luck on our side our on-board naturalist yelled the words we all wanted to hear “WHALE” and with an arm extended to our starboard side there it was…a fin! What a fin it was, it turned out to be some of our regular visitors who have become very popular with the locals. This matriline is known as the T018s, the whales present today were:
T018 Esperanza ♀ (~1955)
T019 Nootka ♀ (~1965)
T019B Galiano ♂ (1995)
T019C Spouter ♂ (2001)
Why are the T018s so popular with the locals? It is their iconic dorsal fins, especially the males. We identify our Orca as individuals using the dorsal fin, eye patch and saddle patches when you’re as big and easily recognizable as these two brothers you get popular fast with our whale-loving community! Esparanza our matriarch is also the oldest orca in the transient population, she is at least 69 this year, first documented in 1955. This easily makes her a local favourite as well, she’s been delighting the community for many years. Now what does her daughter Nootka stand out for? It is her hunting ability, she is fast and accurate which is amazing to see. It was Nootka that once went from travel to hunting a porpoise, to eating the prey and back to travel all within 5 minutes. In most cases, a hunt is not usually over so quickly! With her mother being as old and wise as she is we are positive these techniques were passed down to Nootka making her a whale you don’t want to meet if you are a porpoise!
After spending our time with the T018s we continued to see what else we may find. We spotted some of our harbour seals doing what they do best imitating little sasages on the rocks. We got to meet both species of sea lion! We can’t forget about our birds, we spotted many different species out and about on this tour. Take a look at who we found in the photos below!
Photos by Marine Naturalist Vanessa Vereschahen.
T019C Spouter with his wiggly dorsal.
T019B Galiano. Look at how thick his dorsal is!
T019B Galiano’s dorsal tip is much rounder than most other Transient/Bigg’s dorsal fins.
T019 Nootka travelling through the water.
Even as odd looking as he is, we love T019B Galiano all the same!
T019C Spouter with his nearly perfectly dorsal fin.
T019C Spouter with T018 Esperanza along side him.
A trio of Harbour seals (lovingly known as “Rock Sausages”) watches from a rocky outcropping.
This large Steller sea lion male side eyed us as we floated by.
Fighting amongst the sea lions is common.
A branded California sea lion on the log booms near Harmac.
Look at those giant whiskers!
A small group of Harlequin ducks. The males are very colourful.
A fluffed up gull.
A Bonaparte’s gull in flight.
A young Bald Eagle perched on the rocks.
We are seeing lots of Bald Eagles on our tours right now!
A stylish Brandt’s cormorant with their signature blue throat and white wisps on the side of their head.
A Brandt’s Cormorant alongside a gull.