June 10, 2023, 3:30pm - A whole lot of whales!
We had one boat returning to the Salish Sea for the afternoon departure on June 10th, and the plan was to try and see the same whales that the morning boat had! And oh boy, they did that and more!
We headed back into the Strait of Georgia where the T100s had been spotted this morning, and lucky for us, we still knew where they were! We headed that way and quickly saw their black dorsal fins cutting through the wavy water. It was three of the usual four in this pod travelling together today as one has been off socializing with other pods. The whales there today were:
T100 Hutchins ♀ (1979)
T100C Laurel ♂ (2002)
T100F Estrella (2014)
The T100s seemed to be travelling while we spent time with them, moving through the waves basically in the strait line going to wherever Hutchins decided was best next. All orca are Matriarchal, meaning that the oldest female is usually in charge. This is why females start to break off and form their own pods when they start having kids. Not only is there a bit of a power dynamic change, but for our Biggs orca, large pod sizes can also lead to reduced hunting success and cause issues for the pod. T100 Hutchins is thought to be the daughter of T101 Reef (who, spoiler alert, we end up seeing later on in this tour) but since she had already dispersed at that point, we don’t know for sure if they are related! New research is being done tracking the genetics of the Biggs orca through Enviromental DNA which is the newest, less invasive way to get DNA samples from whales and other marine Mammals. We can’t wait to start seeing the results of this work and working out more relationships within the Biggs Orca population!
For now, though, we have to stick with the uncertainty and enjoy speculating about the relationships we see while on the water.
Eventually, it came time to leave the T100s to their travels, and since we had spotted blows of what we figured was a humpback whale nearby, we decided to go check it out! Sure enough, we saw the distinct “humped” back surface and arch and the large tail of the whale come up out of the waves. It was Kelpie (BCY1276)! Kelpie has a very interesting look to them, not only because of the striking white underside of their tail flukes but also because of the many scars along their entire body. We saw Kelpie when they were younger, and they had what could only be described as “whale acne”. This seems to have healed now but leaves behind scars, which we usually use to help confirm Kelpie’s ID. Kelpie kept coming to the surface to breathe a few times before returning beneath the waves for a longer time, a good indication that they were feeding below the surface!
Soon we left Kelpie behind as well, and started to head back towards Nanaimo, but not before we got word of another pod of whales travelling close to home. There was a pod travelling southbound approaching Dodd Narrows, as we got close to Nanaimo. Curiosity got the best of us so we headed that way to figure out who these whales were. It was two large males travelling with their Mom, the T101s!
T101 Reef ♀ (≤1969)
T101A Rush ♂ (1993)
T101B Lagoon ♂ (1997)
These whales seemed to be on a mission today as they travelled swiftly south in Stuart Channel. We didn’t have very long to spend with these whales since it was right at the end of the tour that we found them, but we still enjoyed watching them travel. When the orca are moving fast like this, we usually see more of them coming out of the water, and this held true today! We got to see not only their dorsal fins but also their eye patches and saddle patches very clearly! As we mentioned earlier, T101 has other offspring that aren’t present such as Hutchins (T100)! Since Reef is so old, she likely has other kids that we just don’t know who are related to her! This is more of the family drama that I was talking about earlier! It’s just so fun to think about!
Eventually, it was time to return to Nanaimo, and this time it went without any issues! We got back safely to the dock, happy with all the whales that we were lucky enough to see today! Our marine naturalist onboard, Aly Kohlman, captured some amazing photos of all the whales today which can be viewed below!
T100 Hutchins travelling beside T100C Laurel, her son, and T100F Estrella.
T100C Laurel and T100 Hutchins travelling together.
T100 Hutchins followed by her youngest, T100F Estrella.
Some distant sea lions on the Halibut Bank ODAS buoy.
T100C Laurel breaking the surface of the waves.
A majestic gull flying overhead.
You can see T100C Laurels eye patch just over the waves here!
T100C Laurel has a lot of deep scars in his saddle patch.
T100 Hutchins surfacing in the waves.
T100F Estrella surfacing with her mom, T100 Hutchins in the foreground.
A great look at the detail in T100 Hutchins’ saddle patch.
T100 Hutchins with a wave breaking over her back.
T100F Estrella as she swims away from the boat.
T100C Laurel surfacing in the waves.
T100 Hutchins.
T100 Hutchins with her son T100C Laurel surfacing in front of her.
A great look at all the details on T100C Laurels eye patch and saddle patch.
T100 Hutchins has a pretty small eye patch!
Kelpies dorsal fin as she surfaces in the waves.
The beautiful underside of Kelpies tail flukes.
T101 Reef surfacing as they travel quickly south.
T101A Rush surfacing. All those scars on his saddle patch help us differentiate him from his brother.
T101A Rush also has a very distinct eye patch.
T101 Reef creating a splash as she surfaces.
T101A Rush surfacing beside his mom, T101 Reef.
T101 Rush was a bit of a camera hog.
T101B Lagoon is also quite scarred up, but you can see the difference in pattern from his brother.
The whole family! We have T101B Lagoon (left), T101A Rush (middle) and T101 Reef (right).
One last look at T101 Reef as they continued on their way!