Recent Sightings

On August 20th our covered vessel, Kula, travelled through the Gulf Islands to visit the T18’s/T19’s foraging in the Saanich Inlet.

On August 19th we adventured across the Strait of Georgia to see the T101’s along the Sunshine Coast. We first spotted them exiting Welcome Passage as they travelled the coast, searching for lunch! The T101’s consists of 4 members: Matriarch Reef (T101) and her three big sons Beardslee (T102), Rush (T101A), and Lagoon (T101B).

We headed North towards Parksville after one of our Naturalists spotted a Humpback off of Parksville shore while they were enjoying their day off! Our open boat, Keta, spotted humpback Zig Zag fluking and feeding. After leaving Zig Zag, both of our boats turned East towards the mainland to visit a pod of orca. They spotted the T100’s, a pod consisting of 4 members, travelling along the coast. A couple of the pod members began to porpoise - this is a form of locomotion where they quickly break the surface before diving back down again, a very typical manoeuvre seen in harbour porpoises and smaller dolphins.

On August 17th we visited Zig Zag and Orion off of Porlier Pass. The two were spotted travelling and feeding.

What an adventurous day! The sea was perfect as we travelled across the Strait to visit Fallen Knight (BCX0915) the humpback near Sechelt.

On August 15th we had an eventful day out in the Strait of Georgia. Our trip started with heading towards Bowen Island where we got a report of humpback whales! On our way there, our boat Cascadia spotted humpback whale “Scoop” (BCX0870), East of Gabriola Island. Scoop was quite active as she was surfacing quite frequently and we were able to see a bunch of flukes from her.

Today our guests were lucky enough to have a Double Species day! What this means is we spotted not one, but TWO different species of whale on a single trip!

On August 12 we spotted Raptor travelling with her adorable calf, Harpy! Harpy was just recently named by one of our local naturalists. Why Harpy? Harpy eagles are a breed of raptor (see what we did there?) that lives in Mexico - this is the same breeding grounds her mother, Raptor, has been cross matched to!

August 11th was quite the day for humpbacks. When we were heading out, we got a report of humpbacks near Galiano Island so we headed towards there. Our boats Keta and Kula arrived on scene and was surrounded by humpbacks. We stuck with the two humpbacks called Divot and Strike, but there were 3 others not far from them.

On August 7th we travelled all the way to Sidney to find a pod of Transient Killer Whales. The pod we found were identified as the T018’s. The T018’s consist of Esperanza (T018), her daughter Nootka (T019), and her grandsons Galiano (T019B) and Spouter (T019C). Esperanza was first sighted in 1955, making her at least 65 years old! Orcas have an average lifespan of 50-80 years. Nootka was first sighted in 1965 making her at least 65 years old while Nootka’s sons Galiano and Spouter are 25 and 19 years old.

All three vessels set off the dock at 1pm on August 5th and went searching for flukes and fins. Every day whale watching is fresh start from the day before so the vessels dispersed to cover as much ocean as possible.

Kula headed out into calm conditions and were treated to not one, not two, but three humpback whales!

On August 3rd our boats made their way out for a 10:30 am sailing. We found Raptor and her calf playing in the Strait. Recently a naturalist was able to get a good fluke shot of this calf, and was able to confirm that Raptors calf is a female. She was given the name “Harpy” after Harpy eagles. As moms name is Raptor and Harpy eagles are raptors it was a very fitting name. Harpy was extra excited this morning, cartwheeling, chin slapping and Pec slapping on the water. It was great to see the young one have so much energy.