July 17, 2024, 10:30 am - Humpbacks and Orca and Gulls, oh my!
All three of our boats pushed off the dock this morning, spreading out to cover more ground in our search for whales. It wasn’t long before we were rewarded, with one of our boats finding Valiant (BCX1773) while another found Dandelion (BCY1107). Humpback Whales!
Valiant is always impressive to see. They were attacked by orca as a calf and their tail is covered in rake marks (scarring from the teeth of orca) and chunks of their tail are missing entirely. Today, Valiant seemed to be milling in one area which likely means they’d found a good spot for food. Meanwhile, on our other boat, a guest asked “Do the whales ever come close to the boat?”. Almost as if Dandelion heard this, they quickly popped up right by our bow. They then spent the next 15 minutes showing off, rolling around close to the boat, sticking their face out of the water and even trumpeting as if communicating with us. The safest thing we can do in this scenario is shut our engine off completely until the whale has moved away to a safe distance. With a beautiful fluke to say goodbye, Dandelion did just that.
Our third boat found a group of Transient Killer Whales, so after time with our humpbacks, we all headed in that direction.
The group of orca consisted of the following whales:
T002C Tasu ♀ (1989)
T002C1 Rocky ♂ (2002)
T002C3 Lucy ♀ (2011)
T002C5 Zippy (2020)
T037A Volker ♀ (1994)
T037A2 Inky ♂ (2009)
T037A4 Crinkle ♀ (2015)
Seeing the T002Cs is always special as this whole family came very close to not existing at all. Back in 1970, before Tasu was born, her mom was herded into Pedder Bay along with four other family members where they were trapped in a sea pen, intended for the captivity industry. Two of the whales were taken into captivity and captors attempted to keep the remaining whales alive on a diet of fish. Of course, Transient Killer Whales eat marine mammals, so unfortunately, after 75 days, one of the remaining whales starved to death. The two final whales, one of which being Tasu’s mom, managed to escape their fate after someone weighed down the nets holding them and they swam away, living the rest of their lives free. Thanks to their escape, we got to see this family of four in our waters today!
As we spent time travelling along the coast with these whales, we heard a report of more orcas ahead of us! We started to see blows and fins and soon identified these whales as:
T101 Reef ♀ (≤1969)
T101A Rush ♂ (1993)
T101B Lagoon ♂ (1997)
We all got excited that these whales were about to meet and start a T-Party, but interestingly, the two groups passed by within about 100 metres of each other but continued on their respective travels.
As two of our boats left the orcas, one boat had an interesting encounter with two humpbacks, Neptune (BCY1021) and Dalmatian (BCY0994) on one side of their boat, while the orca were still on the other! We rarely get to see the humpbacks and orca so close to each other. The humpbacks were controlling the air flow through their blowholes in order to trumpet. Was this noise directed at the orca? Or maybe they just wanted to make sure they had the full attention of the boat instead.
The day wasn’t over and there were more whales to see before we made it home. On our way across the Strait we had even more humpback encounters! Valiant reappeared to give us a final look at their beautiful tail and we found Beak/Nuage (BCX1606) having a snooze before waking up to show off his own tail on his dives underwater.
Besides our abundance of whales, we also saw Stellar Sea Lions, Harbour Seals and gulls with their cute babies at the White Islets, along with Cormorants and Bald Eagles along the Gabriola Bluffs. Today was particularly exciting as this year’s eaglet, who we’ve nicknamed Greyson, was away from his nest and practicing flying with one of his parents close by.
What a fantastic trip! Please enjoy the photos from today taken by the onboard Marine Naturalists Hayleigh Hilbert, Lucy Willis, and Vanessa Vereschahen which can be viewed below!
Valiant lifting her fluke to dive. Photo by Lucy Willis.
Humpback whale Dandelion has this unique dorsal fin. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.
You can see Dandelions pectoral fins just below the waters surface. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.
A close look at the right side of Dandelions Tail Flukes. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.
Dandelion creating a fluke waterfall as they dive, Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.
The tip of Dandelion’s rostrum. Can you see the whale lice and Barnacles on there? Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.
The underside of Dandelion’s tail flukes. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.
Dandelion going for a dive. Photo by Lucy Willis.
Dandelion creating a fluke waterfall. Photo by Lucy Willis.
T002C1 Rocky surfacing. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.
T037A2 Inky surfacing in the Strait. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.
The T101s surfacing together as they passed the other group. Photo by Lucy Willis.
T101B Lagoon surfacing in the Strait. Photo by Lucy Willis.
T101 Reef surfacing without her boys. Photo by Lucy Willis.
T002C5 Spy hopping with T002C Tasu and T037A Volker surfacing in front. Photo by Lucy Willis.
T002C5 surfacing in front of their big brother, T002C1 Rocky. Photo by Lucy Willis.
Someone spy hopping with the belly of another in front. Photo by Lucy Willis.
Continuation of a spy hop this time with an upside down tail. Photo by Lucy Willis.
T002C1 Rocky surfacing and showing off his eye patch. Photo by Lucy Willis.
T037A2 Inky is getting so big now! Photo by Lucy Willis.
T037A4 Crinkle surfacing with another chin slapping beside them. Photo by Lucy Willis.
T002C5 peaking out of the water. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
A nice group of orca surfacing together, featuring T002C5, T0037A4 Crinkle, and T037A Volker. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
T002C Tasu surfacing just ahead of T037A4 Crinkle. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Look at the size of T002C1 Rocky’s dorsal fin! Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Now that’s a lot of whales! T002C Tasu is in front, and T037A4 Crinkle is also visible with two others just covered by these two. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
T002C Tasu surfacing in the calm water. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
T037A4 Crinkle, T037A Volker, and T002C3 Lucy surfacing together. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Dalmatian has a uniquely curved dorsal fin. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Neptune lifting their tail high as they dive in front of Vancouver. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
The striking white underside of Neptune’s tail fluke. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
T037A2 Inky behind T002C3 Lucy. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
A head on look at T002C1 Rocky. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Rocky is coming right at you! Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Dalmatian surfacing. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Dalmatian surfacing with an orca (likely T002C1 Rocky) in the background. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Some surf Scooters near the White Islets. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.
Some baby gulls waiting for food from their parent. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.
More baby gulls hanging out on the islets. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.
Some Steller Sea Lions resting on the rocks. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.
This one was much larger than the others since it was an adult male. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.
An action shot of a porposing sea lion. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
A Steller Sea Lion striking a pose getting out of the water. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Beak lifting his tail to dive. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
beak preparing to dive. Photo by Lucy Willis.
The underside of Beak’s tail Flukes. Photo by Lucy Willis.
Beak creating a fluke waterfall as he dives. Photo by Lucy Willis.
Cormorants preening on the bluffs. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Ca you spot the baby gull peeking around the scrub in this photo taken at the Gabriola Bluffs? Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.
One baby gull hanging out with their parent at the bluffs. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Such a difference in coloration between juveniles and adults. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.
Greyson (right) getting a lesson from one of his parents. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.
Our open boat Cascadia watching the whales. Photo by Lucy Willis.