It was a beautiful day as we left the Harbour this morning, although the sun was hiding behind the clouds for now, it gave the perfect amount of West Coast Vibes. We all climbed onboard Kula and started the adventure! Our trip took us south, through Northumberland Channel, Dodd Narrows, and all the way south in Stuart Channel. We had our eyes peeled this whole time since our day had started with a rumour of whales that were seen off the shoreline of Saltspring Island. We generally headed in that direction, hoping we would catch glimpse of the iconic black dorsal fins of our local orca. It seemed the whales had other plans though, since we continued south without spotting anything.

The next place we travelled through was another beautiful place: Sansum Narrows. It separates the rocky steep cliffs of Saltspring Island from the more gently sloped Vancouver Island. We went through here, watching the Bald Eagles soar overhead and the gathering of gulls feeding on whatever the current was pushing to the surface. From here we continued all the way around the south end of Saltspring until we decided to go into Active Pass, since it’s a great place to find pinnipeds!

The first group we found was the sea lions hauled out on the South-west portion of the Pass. We found both the larger, lighter coloured Steller Sea Lions, and the Smaller, darker California Sea Lion hauled out together on the small section of rock, as well as rafting nearby in the water. Watching sea lions is often one of the more amusing parts of the tour, with their fighting, barking, growling and generally boisterous presence. While with the sea lions we also noticed a pair of Bald Eagles perched in the trees above us, giving us great looks at their striking white heads and huge dark bodies.

We then headed to the north side of the pass were there was some Harbour Seals also enjoying the sunshine that had broken through the clouds. They are much smaller and more quiet than their sea lion cousins, giving quite the different experience watching them. While enjoying the peaceful presence of the seals, our captain spotted something just a bit further into the pass. It seemed that there might be some whales scouting out these pinnipeds as well!

We headed over to confirm this and were greeted with the unmistakable blows and dorsal fins of orca! After quickly taking out the cameras and snapping some photos of the group we confirmed it was the T036s, along with their brand new baby! With the new addition, it bring the group number up to 6:

T036 Flapjack ♀ (1970)
T036B Tattertip ♀ (1998)
T036B1 Bhotia ♀ (2009)
T036B1A (2025)
T036B2 Greenfelder ♀ (2013)
T036B4 ♂ (2024)

At first these whales seemed to just be travelling through the pass, that is until a nearby raft of Sea Lions started acting disturbed! Shortly after this behaviour change from the Sea Lions, we saw why. Suddenly there was flying orca! These orca were trying to quickly stun one of the sea lions and separate it from the rest of the raft. These huge shows of power at the surface are a stark reminder of why these beautiful creatures are also apex predators. They are deadly!

While we weren’t sure if they had success at first, since we didn’t see a sea lion around them for the next few minutes it became very clear once they switched from hunting mode to feeding mode and all the birds came in to also snack! Gulls were already in the area feeding in the currents, but quickly changed to picking up the scraps of blubber and flesh that the whales were leaving behind. We even had the Bald Eagles coming in for the same, and fighting each other for the pieces! It was hard to know where to look with excitement on every side of the boat.

The cool thing about orca is that they will all share in a meal together. Hunting, killing, and dividing the food with every member of the pod. While it’s unlikely that T036B1A was sharing in the food at this age, they are likely still learning important lessons about hunting from their impressive Mother, Grandmother, and Great-grandmother. It’s not often we see a Steller Sea Lion hunt ending so swiftly.

Far too soon we reached the end of our hour spent with the whales, and so we left them behind. As we left them they seemed to continue feeding in the area, starting to head out into the Strait of Georgia. We started the long journey home, heading through sun and snow until we found ourselves back in the harbour.

This was a fantastic trip, with some amazing photos captured by the onboard Marine Naturalist Val Watson and ride along naturalist Aly Kohlman (photos to come). Please enjoy all the photos below, and stay tuned for more photos to be added in the coming days!

February 2, 2025 - Baby Orca and a Sea Lion Hunt