July 20, 2024, 10:30 am - T-party with some uncommon pods and a humpback too!

For many of our trips this year we have gone either East towards Vancouver or South into the Southern Gulf Islands. Today was a bit different though - we pushed off the docks and turned Northwards, the Full Fleet (Cascadia, Keta, and Kula) in tow!
We had received word of a potential orca sighting further up the island and we were excited to try and locate them. All of our whales are free of trackers and tags so we never truly know where they will be at any particular point in the day. This is why it’s so important for us to use every resource at our disposal. One of our most important resources is the people on board - yes, you, our guests! We always ask that everyone keeps scanning while we are travelling around as you never know where the whales will pop up, and we have a much higher chance of spotting their little dorsal fins as they come up when we have 14 sets of eyes looking for them instead of just the 2 sets from the crew on board!
We searched and searched until we finally found our orca. They had travelled quite far north and were now near Lasqueti Island. We began snapping photos and were able to identify them as the T075Bs, T077s, and one lone male:

T065A5 Indy ♂ (2014)

T075B Pebbles ♀ (1995)
T075B2 Jasper ♀ (2015)
T075B3 Rubble (2017)
T075B4 (2021)

T077 Asja ♀ (1981)
T077C Neftali ♂ (2006)
T077D Alycon ♀ (2009)
T077E Misneach (2016)

It is presumed that T077 Asja and T075B Pebbles are actually siblings, which would mean this was a little family gathering! We don’t really know why Indy would be joining in on the partying, but it was wonderful to see him around!

Most of the trip with these 9 whales was them doing classic orca behaviours. They were travelling with what appeared to be occasional nap breaks. Orca do not rest in the same way we do, as they are only able to turn off half their brain at a time. This is because they are not automatic breathers like humans - they have to consciously think about taking each breath. The half of the brain that remains awake as they slumber is in charge of lifting the body, clearing the surface of the water, and taking a deep breath in and out. We did see a couple of small spyhops (bringing their heads up and out of the water) amongst the naps though!

Indy is a rambunctious young orca who dispersed from his matriline when he was 5 years old. This behaviour would be odd for any orca, as they are still very young by 5 years old, but it’s extra strange for a male orca to do. Typically orca are huge momma’s boys and spend their entire lives by their mothers’ sides, so seeing one so determined to do the exact opposite goes against their social norms. Indy isn’t the only member of his matriline that has done this either - T065A3 Amir has also dispersed from the pod. These two brothers were seen travelling together in Washington earlier this year - again, not with the rest of their family. We are glad they can at least have each other as support, as it’s a big wide ocean out there and we wouldn’t want any of our whales to be lonely!

On our way back towards Nanaimo one of our boats was lucky enough to find a little humpback along the way. This whale was identified as Bullet (BCX1658). She was busily circling and fluking as we arrived, likely diving down to eat. Our humpbacks are busily eating as much as they can before they leave our waters once more in the Fall/Winter to breed and give birth.

Besides the whales, the other big highlight of the trip was our Bald Eagles. Not too long ago our Bald Eagles were critically endangered due to DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) poisoning. Sadly, DDT was causing their eggshells to become paper thin, leading to the eggs cracking open as the adults sat on them. DDT ended up getting banned in Canada in the 1980s, and our Bald Eagle population has recovered and stabilized since. Today we saw a pair of Bald Eagles (along with a couple of other curious scavengers) snacking away on a fish carcass.

As we zoomed our way back towards Nanaimo we were happy to have had another wonderfully successful day of whale watching and adventuring out on the water! Please enjoy these photos taken by Marine Naturalists Aly Kohlman, Lucy Willis, and Vanessa Vereschahen.

One of the younger whales. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

T075B Pebbles, T075B2 Jasper, and T075B4. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

T077 Asja and her daughter T077D Alycon. Photo by Lucy Willis.

T077C Neftali with his sister T077D Alycon in the back. Photo by Lucy Willis.

T065A5 Indy in front with T077E Misneach close behind him. Photo by Lucy Willis.

T075B Pebbles with her distinct eyepatch visible. Photo by Lucy Willis.

T075B Pebbles with T075B3 Rubble close behind. Photo by Lucy Willis.

T075B Pebbles tailslapping. Photo by Lucy Willis.

T077C Neftali (back) and T077D Alycon. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Snoozing Harbour seals. Photo by Lucy Willis.

Dropping the “landing gear”. Photo by Lucy Willis.

Black Oystercatcher. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Cormorants nesting and drying off on the rocks. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

A Pigeon Guillemot with lunch. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

A perched Bald Eagle. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

A pair of Bald Eagles. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

They were having a fishy feast. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

It wasn’t just Eagles feasting today! Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Our Open Zodiacs - Keta (front) and Cascadia (back). Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Jilann LechnerJuly 20, 2024WhalesComment