It was a beautiful morning as we had two of our vessels heading out to start their search. We headed south, as there was an early morning report of two orca travelling north together on the inside of the Southern Gulf Islands. We headed into Northumberland Channel, and south to Dodd Narrows. Here we got to fight the currents and make our way into Stuart Channel, we continued all the way down until we got alongside Galiano Island, and there it was: blows in the distance! There were also dorsal fins cutting through the water, we had found those orca. Much to our surprise, we recognized one of them immediately as perhaps the most famous of all the Transient Orca in the area; it was Chainsaw and his mom!

T065 Whidbey II ♀ (~1971)
T063 Chainsaw ♂ (~1978)

Chainsaw is well known because he has been around a long time, given that he is estimated to be 46 years old. Given that the average lifespan for a male orca is only about 30 years, he is beating the odds! Females on the other hand may live up to 90 years old! The oldest recorded female was estimated at 102 years old! One of the reasons they think females live longer than males is because they have a way to pass on the toxins that accumulate in their bodies through the pregnancy process. Not only are toxins added to the calf’s body but most are also fat soluble so additional toxins get passed on through the milk. Of course, males aren’t producing calves or milk, so they don’t have a way to pass on these toxins.

We stayed with the “Ultimate Mama’s Boy” and his mom for a while, and then it was time to leave them behind. We were close to Porlier Pass so we headed out there and quickly found a pair of humpback whales!

These two whales were travelling together at varying paces, sometimes they seemed to be moving very quickly at the surface but sometimes they were barely moving. They were consistently fluking, although they weren’t lifting their tails very high. It was enough for us to ID these whales though! One of them was Notcho (BCX1700)! Notcho is a whale that we have been seeing a lot of lately. He has a new barnacle on his dorsal fin which kept us guessing for a little while, but thankfully he eventually started fluking, revealing his identity to us. Today Notcho was travelling with Moraine (BCX1383calf2021). We thought that these two might be feeding in the area since they were spending a fair amount of time beneath the surface. The humpbacks are in our waters specifically to feed, so it’s not surprising that’s what we find them doing the majority of the time.

After spending time with these two, we headed north, arriving at Stinky Rocks where there were Steller Sea Lions and Harbour Seals spending time here, hauled out on the rocky shore. The Steller Sea Lions, with their ability to rotate their flippers and walk easier on land, tend to spend the majority of their time on the section of rocks that are steeper in the slope they have. The Habour Seals on the other hand can’t walk and instead have to Galumph, and they are limited to the less sloped rocks.

Finally, we returned to Nanaimo, running on the outside of Gabriola Island until we found ourselves in the protection of the harbour once again. It was an amazing day, and the onboard Marine Naturalists Val Watson and Vanessa Vereschahen captured some amazing photos of the day which can be viewed below!

September 20, 2024 - Chainsaw returns!

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