April 11, 2025 - T-party and a hunt. Today's prey: A Steller sea lion

We couldn’t ask for more perfect conditions as we began our journey - light winds caused the Strait to be nearly flat and calm and the sun was shining and basking us in its warmth as we began the trip. We started scanning just around Nanaimo harbour before making our way Eastward.

Our open vessel, Keta, made a few wildlife stops before they ventured further into the Strait of Georgia. The first stop was at Entrance Island - a gorgeous lighthouse-topped island right outside the harbour. There was a gathering of Steller sea lions nestled amongst the rocks, including a very large Male near the top of the rocks.

Once we crossed the Strait, we met up with a couple of pods of orca travelling along the coastline of Point Grey, meandering southbound. At first, it appeared that they were broken into a couple of groups, but they began zig-zagging and interacting a bit more after a while. We snapped some photos and began working on IDs.

Turns out, there were members of 4 different matrilines present: the T036A1s, T099B, the T123s, and the T137s for a total of 11 different orca:

T036A1 Tierna ♀ (2005)
T036A1A ♂ (2022)

T099B Holly ♀ (2007)

T123 Sidney ♀ (~1985)
T123A Stanley ♂ (2000)
T123C Lucky ♀ (2012)
T123D Darcy ♀ (2018)

T137 Loon ♀ (~1984)
T137A Jack ♂ (2002)
T137B Tempest ♀ (2006)
T137D Wright ♀ (2012)

The start of this encounter was a very classic orca experience. Typical travel, they were surfacing fairly regularly, occasionally zig-zagging, but overall quite low energy as they headed south.

The two main matrilines, the T123s and T137s, kept alternating on who was closer to the shoreline and further out to sea. T036A1 Tierna, her calf T036A1A, and T099B Holly kept bouncing back and forth between the pods, socializing as they went.

You never know when these intelligent animals will suddenly change behaviour though, and today was a perfect example of that. Once we had snapped our photos of them travelling our naturalists began chatting away about the families and the history of orca in our area. Suddenly there was a breach to our left, a couple of the orca began porpoising (high-speed popping above the surface of the water to go as fast as possible), and that’s when we knew their behaviour was changing - one of the whales had initiated a hunt!

Typically when our orca hunt we do not see a lot of the action above the surface. Instead, most of the fight happens below the surface. However, that was not the case during this trip. After a couple of breaches and porpoising, we saw what they were after - a Steller sea lion was splashing and racing around.

Sometimes hunts are quick and efficient, and sometimes they drag on for longer periods. These 11 orca ended up chasing this sea lion around, actively stalking, ramming, and hunting it for at least an hour. This can seem cruel, but it is an important lesson for the younger members of the pods. Young whales such as T036A1A may have never been around during a sea lion hunt, as it usually takes a large amount of adult orca to successfully take down prey as big as a Steller sea lion.

Seeing the prowess of the orca at work was amazing, but sadly, we had to depart before the action was over. Once we departed we crossed back across the Strait of Georgia. Our semi-covered vessel, Kula, stopped to have its own wildlife encounter with our Steller sea lions over by Stinky Rocks. Keta made their way north, up through Porlier Pass and then through Dodd Narrows, over to the log booms outside Harmac pulp mill to have a quick peek at some of our California sea lions snoozing away. Kula made one more stop at the Gabriola Bluffs - a beautiful rookery where many of our Cormorants nest for the season.

After we had our last pit stops with wildlife both vessels made their way back to the harbour, wrapping up an incredible day!

MILD GORE WARNING: While the orca did not finish their hunt while on scene, there are photos below that do show their prey actively being hunted. We will place a warning message for those who may want to view this trip’s photos and not see photos of the hunt itself.

Please enjoy the trip’s photos taken by Marine Naturalists Cheyenne Brewster and Val Watson!

T137A Jack close behind T123 Sidney, with a large flock of cormorants following them. Photo by Val Watson.

From left to right: T123A Stanley, T036A1 Tierna, and T137B Tempest. Photo by Val Watson.

T137B Tempest with her eye above the water. Photo by Val Watson.

T123A Stanley’s towering dorsal. Photo by Val Watson.

T123 Sidney racing by. Photo by Val Watson.

T036A1 Tierna is starting to have lots of scarring in her saddlepatch. Photo by Val Watson.

T036A1 Tierna with her calf, T036A1A right behind her. The young calf has some scarring on the tip of his dorsal which will likely be used to ID him in the future! Photo by Val Watson.

Catching up to mom! T036A1A racing after T036A1 Tierna during the hunt. Photo by Val Watson.

A nice clear eyepatch of T036A1A as he travels beside his mother T036A1 Tierna. Photo by Val Watson.

T099B Holly - her distinct dorsal makes her one of our favourite whales to ID. Photo by Val Watson.

An orca’s tail can tell its own tale - look at all those scratches and nicks! Photo by Val Watson.

T137A Jack’s dorsal fin is quite unique, with two large chunks missing from its edge. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

Normally we wouldn’t include out-of-focus photos on our blog… but this once-in-a-lifetime moment had to be shared! 4 of the smaller whales porpoised out of the water in sync in a line! How cool is that?! Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

The chase is on! T099B Holly racing after the sea lion. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

3 beautiful ladies - T099B Holly, T137B Tempest, and T036A1 Tierna. These 3 are very similar in age, being born in 2007, 2006, and 2005 respectively. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

T099B Holly side-by-side with T123D Wright. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

T036A1A behind T036A1 Tierna. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

One of the orca rolling - you can see the definition in their side as they zoom past here. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

T137B Tempest was very excited to be in the heart of the action. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

T036A1 Tierna with her son’s face popping up beside her. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

These two were glued to eachother! T036A1 Tierna and T036A1A. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

T099B Holly charging towards T137D Wright - these two were travelling together most of the encounter. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

T036A1A has such a cute face! Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

T036A1 Tierna making waves! Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

All the whales were very excited during the hunt, leading to lots of porpoising and breaching. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

T123A Stanley having a celebratory breach as we depart scene. Photo by Val Watson.

GORE WARNING

The photos below include the sea lion that these orca were actively hunting. Viewer discretion is advised.

The Steller sea lion travelling along, trying to escape. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

A wound on the sea lion’s hind flippers as it dove. Photo by Val Watson.

The sea lion was showing signs of some extensive damage as it continued to dive and avoid the orca. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

T099B Holly ramming the sea lion - can you see it to her left? Photo by Val Watson.

Tossing the sea lion into the air - can you spot the flippers in the corner of the splash? Photo by Val Watson.

Some of the whales themselves became airborne as they hunted their prey. Photo by Val Watson.

One of the ladies porpoising… with the sea lion also porpoising! Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

T099B Holly with the sea lion behind her. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

T137 Loon with her youngest calf T137D Wright beside her… and the sea lion behind them. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

A bob of Harbour seals nestled together on Seal rock. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

This very large male Steller sea lion was high above the rest of the sea lions on Entrance Island. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

It was nap time for our steller sea lions. Photo by Val Watson.

Yelling away from the top of the rocks. Photo by Val Watson.

Our California sea lions using eachother as pillows on the log booms. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

Sea lions do not care about personal space. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

A Ring-billed gull taking off from the water. Photo by Val Watson.

Look at that form! Photo by Val Watson.

A juvenile Bald Eagle perches up in the trees. Photo by Val Watson.

Preening, as seen by this juvenile Bald Eagle, is an important part of their routine to keep their feathers in good shape. Photo by Val Watson.

A mature Bald Eagle sits above a juvenile Bald Eagle. Photo by Val Watson.

Coming in for a landing! A Pelagic cormorant approaches the rocky cliffs. Photo by Val Watson.

The hovercraft zooming by. Photo by Val Watson.

Our open vessel, Keta. Photo by Val Watson.

Our Semi-covered vessel, Kula. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.