May 17, 2025, 10:30 AM - T-time with the Orca
We couldn’t ask for a more perfect day for whale watching than we had as all three of our vessels left the Nanaimo Harbour on the morning of May 17th. We headed out into the Strait of Georgia, since we had heard a rumour of a couple of whales that were spotted from shore near Gabriola Island, but the one thing about whale watching tours that we can guarantee is that the plan changes a whole lot every time we are on the water. I say this since while we headed out to search for these whales, another Vancouver-based company found a larger group of whales just a bit further into the Strait. Since all the local companies will talk to each other and share sighting information, it makes it much easier to maintain the high success rate that we have!
So our boats headed over, keeping an eye along the way just in case those other whales still decided to show up. While they didn’t, we did see a pair of orca by themselves nearby, but not participating with the T-party that we could then see on the horizon. These two loners turned out to be the T049A brothers, who have been travelling together a lot lately:
T049A1 Noah ♂ (2001)
T049A2 Jude ♂ (2007)
These two continued away from the larger, active group, and we decided to stick with the party, leaving Noah and Jude to their travels.
And boy, are we happy we did! This not-so-little T-party was bumping! There was a ton of socialization happening here, with fluid groups blending and separating as we watched. There was also a lot of activity at the surface during this time, with tail slaps, breaching, pec slapping, and spy hops galore. The groups were also spread over a pretty wide distance, with groups popping up all over the place over about a mile, by our estimate. We had our naturalists onboard snapping photos along the way, and were able to ID the following whales as being present:
T071B Hood ♀ (2000)
T071B1 Zengo ♀ (2013)
T071B2 Tasli/Nemo ♂ (2018)
T086A Eider ♀ (1988)
T086A4 Akia ♀ (2016)
T086A5 Siku (2024)
T086A1 Nahanni ♀ (~2001)
T086A1B Denali (2023)
T100 Hutchins ♀ (~1979)
T100C Laurel ♂ (2002)
T100F Estrella (2004)
T100B Freya ♀ (1997)
T100B1 Seidr (2010)
T100B3 Selkie ♀ (2024)
T124A2 Elkugu ♀ (2001)
T124A2A Agafia ♂ (2013)
T124A2B Litton ♀ (2016)
T124D Field ♀ (1996)
T124D1 Salish II (2014)
T124D3 ♀ (2022)
T124D4 (2024)
When we get to see these large social groups, it can be very awe-inspiring! Most of the time we spend with orca, they will be travelling, since they travel around 100 miles every single day. When in travel mode, you don’t usually see this type of surface behaviour. They will usually calmly surface, a few times to breathe, and then dip below the surface for a few minutes at a time. Today, though, it seems there were always at least a few whales at the surface, moving quickly, or slapping their tails against the surface. It can be tough during these types of trips, because you just don’t know which way to look!
We had a vast range of ages and sizes of whales here as well, which kept things interesting. As the towering tall dorsal fin of T100C Laurel broke the water, the only fully grown male in the group, it made those fins of the calves present look that much smaller. Once fully grown, a male orca will have about a 6-foot-tall dorsal fin, and large pectoral fins and tail flukes too. The adult females are smaller, with their dorsal fins only reaching heights of around 4 feet. Seeing all the variation here, and all the activity from them, was still a great sight as we drank it all in.
Soon, the hour that we spent with the whales came to a close, and we continued our adventure through the Salish Sea to see what else we might be able to find for the day. All of our boats ended their orca encounter pretty close to a known haul-out site, White Islets, so we headed over there. Here, there was a wide variety of wildlife spending time there. The first animals that caught our eye were the giant Steller Sea Lions. These massive pinnipeds outweigh all of the other local species in our waters, with males getting up to an impressive 2800 pounds and the females maxing out around 800 pounds. They are also quite noisy, growling back and forth amongst the group as personal space is invaded and defended. It can be quite interesting to watch! The other interesting thing about the sea lions is their movement across these steep rocks. They were constantly having members of the group in and out of the water as we watched, climbing up the steep slopes and sometimes making a high dive from these rocks into the water waiting below.
In addition to the sea lions, there was a small haul-out of Harbour Seals here as well. These seals are much smaller than the Sea Lions, weighing only about 300 pounds at full size. They also don’t make much noise, save the odd sneeze or growl at their friend who might have gotten too close to them on the rocks.
There was also a large number of sea birds that speckled the rock face, including lots of Gulls. We know that the Gulls nest here, as in past years we have seen the nests and young when we visit later in the season. One of the lucky boats even got to see some of the breeding happening here! Hopefully, that will mean more speckled baby gulls for us to view in the future.
After leaving the White Islets, the boats spread out and started their search again. Two of the boats took a more direct path towards Nanaimo, not finding more whales, but stopping at the Gabriola Bluffs to view the nesting Cormorants and Bald Eagles. This stop isn’t just interesting because of the birds, though; the bluffs themselves are very impressive to behold. The stone stands about 200 feet overhead as we float below, each centimetre of the stone representing a meter of compressed sediment settled over potentially thousands of years.
While two boats drank in the impressive sandstone cliffs, the third ended up finding a humpback whale during their search. This young whale didn’t end up showing off their tail during the tour, but we were able to figure out who they were based on the dorsal fin! It was Crackle (BCY1227)! Crackle seemed to be travelling while we watched them, moving quite quickly, until suddenly they stopped and switched direction. Since we were running low on time, we decided to leave them to it and continued back to Nanaimo, where our three boats returned to the dock together.
It was an amazing morning, and we felt lucky to spend it with such a huge variety of wildlife! Please enjoy these photos taken by Marine Naturalists Val Watson and Jordan Robinson that were captured throughout their time on the water.
T100F Estrella poking her face out of the water. Photo by Val Watson.
T100C Laurel’s pectoral fin in the air - you can see the hand structure in his fin! Photo by Val Watson.
T100C Laurel tail slapping in front of his mother T100 Hutchins. Photo by Val Watson.
T100C Laurel continuing to be slap happy behind T071B1 Zengo. Photo by Val Watson.
T071B2 Tasli/Nemo’s flukes are very distinct - they turn upward instead of downward! Photo by Val Watson.
T086A Eider, known for her unique ‘smile’ - she is missing teeth in her lower right jaw. Photo by Val Watson.
One of the calves making waves! Photo by Val Watson.
T086A1 Nahanni has a distinct dorsal patch with a number of scars on it. Photo by Val Watson.
T086A5 Siku slapping away in front of their mother T086A Eider. Photo by Val Watson.
T086A5 Siku (back). Photo by Val Watson.
T086A5 Siku porpoising. Photo by Val Watson.
Matriarch T124D Field looking gorgeous. Photo by Val Watson.
T124D Field with her youngest calf T124D4. Photo by Val Watson.
Preparing to break the surface! Photo by Val Watson.
T100C Laurel has a notch in the middle of his dorsal that we use for identifying. Photo by Val Watson.
T100F Estrella beside T100 Hutchins. Photo by Val Watson.
Tail slap from T124A2 Elkugu! Photo by Val Watson.
There were many tails in the air during the trip’s encounter. Photo by Val Watson.
T100B1 Seidr and T124A2A Agafia surfacing together. Photo by Val Watson.
Breach for the sky! Photo by Jordan Robinson.
You can tell the whale’s gender from this shot! It’s a boy! Photo by Jordan Robinson.
Daughter T086A1 Nahanni just ahead of her mother T086A Eider… Photo by Jordan Robinson.
… with their two calves close in tow! Photo by Jordan Robinson.
The calves spent lots of time frolicking together - here we have T086A1B Denali and T100B3 Selkie. Photo by Jordan Robinson.
T086A5 Siku and T100C Laurel in the back. Just look at the size difference! Photo by Jordan Robinson.
Crackle’s dorsal fin. Photo by Val Watson.
Crackle preparing to dive. Photo by Val Watson.
Our Harbour seals love to sleep the day away. Photo by Jordan Robinson.
What a photogenic sea lion! Photo by Jordan Robinson.
Our sea lions end up in all sorts of odd poses as they grumble and fight eachother for nap spots. Photo by Jordan Robinson.
This large male Steller sea lion was belching away from the top of the White Islets. Photo by Jordan Robinson.
Our California sea lions, snuggled up together in a line. Photo by Jordan Robinson.
What an interesting place to nap. Photo by Jordan Robinson.
Love was in the air today! Photo by Val Watson.
Juvenile and adult Cormorants nestled together on the rocks. Photo by Val Watson.
The Gabriola Bluffs has many interesting rock formations on it. Photo by Jordan Robinson.
Our Open vessel Cascadia on scene. Photo by Jordan Robinson.
Our Semi-covered vessel Kula on scene. Photo by Jordan Robinson.