May 15, 2024, 12:00 - So Many Whales!

It was another beautiful, sunny day as we had all three of our vessels heading out on the water. When we have multiple boats out at once, we do our best to spread them out so that we can cover as much ground as possible while searching. That’s exactly what we did today! One of our boats went south through Northumberland Channel, one went north to search the waters between Nanaimo and the Sunshine Coast, and the third went right across towards Vancouver where other boats were searching for a land-based sighting of whales in Howe Sound. Now you may be wondering, if there was a report over in Howe Sound, why didn’t all of our boats head right to it? Well, part of what we do to limit our impact on the whales is reducing the number of boats that are watching them at one time, and the best way to “spread the fleet” as we call it, is to find other whales! Just because there is a report of one group of whales, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t others to be found as well. In fact, with so many different pods of orca frequenting our waters, the likelihood of there only being one in our range is very low! So we searched, but this time we weren’t successful, but this search allowed us to not have too many boats there at once anyway so it really was a success!

Upon arriving with the Howe Sound Whales, it was chaotic. We were under the impression that there must have been a T-party here (a group of multiple different pods of Biggs Orca) that was in the process of breaking up. There were whales everywhere, from lots of different pods, going in every direction. From our photos the following pods were present, and there may have been more that we didn’t manage to get photos of!

T049A1 Noah ♂ (2001)

T071B1 Zengo (2013)
T071B2 Tasli/Nemo (2018)

T086A1 Nahanni ♀ (2001)
T086A1B (2023)

T087 Harbeson ♂ (~1962)

T090 Eagle ♀ (1980)
T090B Piglet ♂ (2006)
T090C Tigger ♀ (2010)
T090D Kanga (2017)

T123 Sidney ♀ (~1985)
T123A Stanley ♂ (2000)
T123C Lucy ♀ (2012)
T123D Darcy ♀ (2018)

T124A1 Bonapartes ♀ (1996)

T124A2 Elkugu ♀ (2001)
T124A2A Agafia ♂ (2013)
T124A2B Litton ♀ (2016)

T124D Field ♀ (1996)
T124D1 Salish II (2014)
T124D3 (2022)

It was very exciting to watch, and one of those days where we didn’t know what direction to look! There was some surface activity, with spy hops, tail slaps, and some fast surfacing! It was really exciting to watch!

T-parties are very important for the transient orca population, not just for the breeding opportunities that can arise from interactions outside their pod, but just socializing outside their regular group is likely very important for these very social creatures. All good things must come to an end though, as travelling in large groups can make hunting for the orca much more difficult. They are ambush predators, relying on stealth for success most of the time. If the group of orca are too large, they are much easier to detect and therefore won’t be able to feed as often. With each whale needing about 500 pounds of food every day, these big groups likely aren’t getting enough food when together. You can imagine with at least 21 whales in the same area, the seals are going to take notice. So we enjoy them while they last, and love seeing the individual pods.

Soon our time with these whales was up, and we started the journey home, we were crossing the Strait when something caught our eye, it was the blow of humpbacks in our path! We of course slowed down and waited for photos to confirm who it was. We quickly got photos of the underside of each of these whales tail flukes, allowing us to ID them as Wisp (BCY0523calf2021) and Kelpie (BCY1276)! These two were in feeding mode, diving for a few minutes at a time below the surface for food before returning to the surface for a few minutes to breathe before starting the process over again! Each boat stayed for a few surfaces with these whales before continuing to Nanaimo.

What an amazing day! All of the best photos from the trip from each vessel are included below, taken by Marine Naturalists Aly Kohlman, Hayleigh Hilbert, and Lucy Willis.

A River Otter on the docks near our vessels. Photo by Aly Kohlman

A Harbour Seal Watches us from the water. Photo by Aly Kohlman

So many rock sausages on the rocks today! Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert

Entrance Island as a lovely backdrop for these cormorants. Photo by Aly Kohlman

A Bald Eagle near the Steller Sea Lions. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert

Some Steller Sea Lions Hauled out on the rocks. Photo by Aly Kohlman

These Steller Sea Lions are the third largest pinnipeds in the world! Photo by Lucy Willis

A juvenile Bald Eagle landing on the log. Photo by Aly Kohlman

T086A1 Nahanni and calf T086A1B. Photo by Aly Kohlman

The T123s! From left to right: T123D Darcy, T123 Sidney, T123C Lucky, and T123A Stanley. Photo by Aly Kohlman

T123A Stanley followed by T123C Lucky. Photo by Aly Kohlman

T086A1B surfacing just behind mom, T086A1 Nahanni. Photo by Aly Kohlman

T124A2A Agafia just surfacing beside T049A1 Noah. Photo by Aly Kohlman

T124A2 Elkugu surfacing on her own. Photo by Aly Kohlman

T124A2 Elkugu surfacing behind her Aunt T124D Field. Photo by Aly Kohlman

T124D3 Surfacing just after their mom! Photo by Aly Kohlman

T124D1 Salish II surfacing beside T124A2 Elkugu. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert

T090B Piglet surfacing on his own. Photo by Lucy Willis

T123 Sidney with her distinctly hooked dorsal fin. Photo by Lucy Willis

T090B piglet surfacing with the tip of his eye patch lifting from the water. Photo by Lucy Willis

T090C Tigger surfacing just behind T124A1 Bonapartes. Photo by Lucy Willis

T123 Sidney close up! Photo by Lucy Willis

The underside of Kelpies Tail Flukes! Photo by Lucy Willis

Wisp arching their back to prepare to dive. Photo by Aly Kohlman

The underside of Wisp’s tail flukes as they dive. Photo by Aly Kohlman

Kelpie is easy to distinguish thanks to these bumps on her skin from a healed skin condition. Photo by Aly Kohlman

The top side of Wisp’s tail. Photo by Aly Kohlman

Kelpie within the mist of her own blow. Photo by Aly Kohlman

Wisp preparing to dive. Photo by Aly Kohlman

Wisp lifting their tail to prepare to dive. Photo by Lucy Willis

Jilann LechnerMay 15, 2024WhalesComment