We were excited to get back on the water after having such a successful morning. We had heard that the whales that we were watching in the morning had gone south through Dodd Narrows, so we decided to head in that direction to start our search. We crossed Dodd, fighting some current as we went since the tide was changing. We headed south into Stuart Channel, continuing the search, when one of the boats spotted the dorsal fins on the horizon, we had found the orca! It turned out that these whales weren’t the ones we were searching for. It was the T037As! This pod currently consists of the following members:

T037A Volker ♀ (1994)
T037A2 Inky ♂ (2009)
T037A4 Crinkle ♀ (2015)

Although Volker has two other living children (T037A1 Inyo and T037A3 Spinnaker) both of them have dispersed from the pod for now. Inky is 17 and is at the age in her life where it is very common to go off and start her own family line. Spinnaker is a bit more surprising, as he is just beginning to sprout, but has clearly decided he has no time for his family and is also off living the solo life. This pod is really cool to see thanks to all the unique dorsal fins of the current members. Volker, the matriarch, has a very distinct notch about halfway down her dorsal fin. Her son, Inky, has a very similar one which caused some confusion when he was young, but as he continued to grow, there is now no mistaking the two of them! Orca display sexual dimorphism, meaning that there is a physical difference between the males and females of the species. The males get larger than the females, growing to around 8 meters long with a six-foot-tall dorsal fin. Females only get to about 6 meters long, with a four-foot-tall dorsal fin. Inky is starting to get his larger dorsal fin, although he isn’t fully grown yet. You’ll see in the photos below the size difference between him and mom already! Crinkle is a known female, so although she also has a very unique dorsal fin, it likely won’t grow to be too much larger than it already is.

After spending some time with the T037As we headed out onto the calm waters of the Gulf islands and decided to try our luck in the strait. After searching for a bit, we came across some Humpback whales off the shore of North Nanaimo. These whales were Stingray (BCZ0409), Kata (BCY1218), and Wisp (BCX1333 calf 2021)! The whales seemed to be having fun as we got to watch them, with some cartwheeling mixed into the normal travel.

Finally, we stopped at the Gabriola Bluffs, getting a good look at the cormorants nesting there. It’s been great watching the young birds develop as many of the chicks have been born the last few weeks. We are hoping they will be out of their “awkward phase” soon, even though it’s great to see them no matter what! Our onboard marine naturalists Desarae Poier and Vanessa Vereschahen captured some amazing photos, all of which can be viewed below!

August 21, 2024, 3:30 pm - Both Species Close to Home

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