August 25, 2024, 3:30 pm - Humpback whales everywhere and the T099s in Howe Sound
Leaving the dock this afternoon we had a loose plan in place to see if we couldn’t find some of the animals that were seen this morning, but on the water dealing with wild animals, the plans never go exactly how you think they might! While we aimed across the Strait, a humpback blow caught our eye as we got just east of Gabriola Island. We were quickly able to ID this whale as Chi (BCZ0414calf2021). Chi is one of the whales who are known to be a bit curious about our vessels, so we did our best to give him some extra space. Against our best efforts, Chi ended up a bit too close, so we shut our engines down and floated there for a while as he played around the boat. Once he got far enough away, we were able to start our engines once more and decided it was time to leave Chi since he was starting to ramp up his behaviour, splashing his pectoral fins around in the water and lifting his tail as well. Since each of these flippers weigh about the same as a horse you don’t want to be on the receiving end of a wallop! Lucky for us, Chi continued on his way after we got our distance from him.
After Chi we ran into another humpback whale, spotting the blow in the distance. As we got closer, it turned out to be Slice (BCX1057calf2021). Interestingly, these two solo whales are part of the same family line, with Slice being Chi’s Uncle! Although not much is known about humpback social dynamics, it’s interesting that we keep seeing related whales close by each other! Do you think they know that they are related? It’ll be near to learn more as more research continues with our humpback whales!
After leaving Slice to his feeding, we continued across the Strait of Georgia, finally making it to the orca that one of the Vancouver-based companies had found! We figured we would be seeing the same orca as this morning but to our surprise, the dorsal fin of a sprouting male broke the surface…so it must be someone else! Looking through the photos it turned out to be the T099s, with most of our photos showing the teenage male of the group; Barakat.
T099 Bella ♀ (~1984)
T099B Holly ♀ (2007)
T099C Barakat ♂ (2009)
T099D Puck ♂ (2015)
T099E ♀ (2021)
The rest of the family was right along the shore, with Barakat slightly further out, maybe scanning for a snack as they travelled. Orca have a very similar life history to humans, reaching puberty in their early pre-teen/teenage years, and being fully grown by the time they are around 20 years old. Females will also go through menopause, usually between 40-50 years of age. Although it’s rare in the animal kingdom, menopause seems to have some links to intelligence, and there are a few of the toothed whales on the list. Orca, Narwhals, Belugas, and short-finned Pilot Whales are other species that will have long lives after stopping reproduction. This is thought to be because they have so much knowledge to contribute to keeping their kids and grandkids healthy in the long term. At 40 years old, it may be close to Bella’s time to stop having kids and focus on doting on the ones she currently has!
Soon it was time to leave the T099s to their travels, and we started the journey back to Nanaimo. This trip was cut short when some more humpback whales popped up in our way! Each boat found a different group of whales here, with one open boat with Wisp (BCY1333calf2021) while the other found a trio of humpback whales: Geometry (BCZ0338), Graze (BCY0523), and a third which will likely remain a mystery thanks to it being camera shy! Spending time with these humpbacks was very relaxing as we watched them likely feeding in the area, surfacing a few times to breathe before lifting their tails to help them dive down deeper under the water.
Soon, we left the whales to their food and finally made it back to Nanaimo Harbour. It was an amazing day with some amazing photos captured by the onboard Marine Naturalists Vanessa Vereschahen, Aly Kohlman, and Des Poier.
The top of Chi's tail flukes. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Chi doing a little tail flick. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Chi arching for a dive. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Chi's pectoral fin. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Chi doing a pectoral fin slap. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
The underside of Chi's chin, covered in Barnacles. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Slice's dorsal fin. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
The underside of slice's tail. Photo by Des Poier.
Slice giving fluke waterfall! Photo by Des Poier.
A close up look at the barnacles on Slice's tail. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
T099C Barakat surfacing in Howe Sound. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
T099C Barakat. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
You can see the white from T099C Barakat's saddle patch in this photo under the water. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
A better look at T099C Barakat's saddle patch. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
T099 Bella and T099D Puck travelling side-by-side. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
T099C Barakat surfacing ahead. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
A Great Blue Heron flying overhead with the orca. Photo by Des Poier.
A happy looking Harbour Seal. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Wisp making a fluke waterfall! Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Graze surfacing in the Strait. Photo by Des Poier.
Graze lifting her tail beside Geometry. Photo by Des Poier.
Geometry making a fluke waterfall. Photo by Des Poier.
The white underside of Geometry's tail flukes. Photo by Des Poier.
Graze surfacing with Geometry exhaling beside her. Photo by Des Poier.