Two open boats pushed off the dock this afternoon and undertook a journey down to Haro Strait by San Juan Island! We were rewarded with a pod of killer whales.

T109A2 Fuser ♀ (2005)
T109A2A Seekah ♂ (2016)
T109A2B Macoh ♀ (2018)
T109A2C (2021)
T109A2D (2023)

Fuser’s niece has made quite the story. T109A3 Spong (2009) became stranded near Zeballos on March 23rd, leaving her first and only calf T109A3A Kwiisahi?is (Kwee-sa-hay-is), or Brave Little Hunter in the lagoon there. The only entrance and exit could only be accessed at high tide. Additionally, the currents in that area were pretty strong as well, so they could have been deterring her from leaving despite attempts from rescuers to coax her out. At only two years old, Brave Little Hunter is now on her own. She needed to learn how to hunt and find another pod to catch up with to help her. Luckily, the little one seemed to have a fighting spirit, and she left the lagoon on her own after almost a month on April 26th. Unfortunately, there have been little sightings of her since then. Teams did monitor her for a while in Little Espinosa Inlet, but eventually lost her. She was possibly seen again on July 5th, but the video isn’t the best angle for identifying her. We can only hope she’ll catch up with another pod or find her way to one of her relatives soon!
With four children of her own, Fuser already has a lot of experience when it comes to raising young whales. If her niece can catch up to this pod, they would likely be a great family for her to grow with. Orcas typically go through puberty at a similar age to humans, around 12 to 15 years old, and their gestation period is 15-18 months. Fuser was a young mom, having her first calf at only 11 years old. Once they start reproducing, we generally see females have a calf every 3 to 5 years. Fuser was not only a young mom, she had four calves in only seven years! At 19 years old, she is already a prolific mother. As well as going through puberty, orcas are one of the few animals that will go through menopause. This tends to happen in their fourties so Fuser could continue to reproduce for many years to come! We look forward to keeping track of this family to see what the future holds for them.

As well as our orca we got to enjoy additional wildlife throughout our tour. As we waited to leave the harbour, we spotted a Bald Eagle and Turkey Vulture perched upon a passing log boom. On their way south, one of our boats made a stop to check out some Harbour Seals hauled out on the rocks close to a Black Oystercatcher and our other boat was lucky enough to spot some Harbour Porpoises speeding by on their way back to Nanaimo. After a journey of over 100 nautical miles, we made it home having had a fantastic time on the water.

Please enjoy these photos from the tour, taken by Marine Naturalists Vanessa Vereschahen and Hayleigh Hilbert.