May 13, 2021 - The T123's traveling in the Gulf Islands

The T123’s were traveling slowly and close together, making for some beautiful photographs and peaceful moments. The leader of this pod, the matriarch, is T123 “Sidney”, a mother of three who was born around 1985. Even though she’s the oldest and leads the pod, it’s her son Stanley, T123A, that usually steals the show with his giant dorsal fin. A full grown male orca’s fin can get up to 6 feet tall! Stanley was born in the year 2000 and his fin has a distinct notch about 1/3 of the way down.

Read More
Jilann LechnerComment
May 9, 2021 - Now that's a lot of whales!!

This large group of transient killer whales was what we affectionately call a “T-Party” - a large group of marine mammal-hunting killer whales composed of multiple pods who are usually not seen traveling together. There were 12+ whales in this superpod, from about 6 different small matriarchal pods. Some of the whales we identified from our photos were the T18’s, T36’s, T46B’s (no Tl’uk), T63 & T65, T100’s, T46C2 and T125A & T128, and possibly more!

Read More
Jilann LechnerComment
April 17, 2021 - Perfect day with Orcas outside Victoria

On April 17th we set sail with clear skies and high hopes. We traveled out into the Strait, doing a large loop infront of Nanaimo scanning the waters. We made a stop at Entrance Island to see all the Stellar Sea Lions, and a few California Sea Lions. After leaving we went back into the Strait, heading towards the shores of Vancouver.

After traveling south through the Strait we passed through Active Pass and headed through the Gulf Islands to the East side of Sidney Island. There we found our 10 Orcas, the T124A’s and the T124D’s.

Read More
Jilann LechnerComment
April 11, 2021 - T-Party near Nanaimo!

April 11th was a beautiful day out in the water and we were lucky enough to find Killer Whales at Neck Point!

Transient Killer Whale pods can join up like this to hunt together and socialize. It also gives the opportunity for a male and female of different pods to mate.

Read More
Jilann LechnerComment
April 1, 2021 - First day back on the water and we found killer whales "Chainsaw" and friends!

It’s been awhile! After a long winter our crew was ecstatic to get back out on the water and explore our backyard in search of whales and other wildlife. Naturalist Val and Captain Rodrigo headed south into the Strait of Georgia and it didn’t take them too long to find killer whales!

And not just any killer whalse, they found the infamous “Chainsaw” (T063)! This adult male orca is easy to recognize because of his large, chainsaw-like dorsal fin. We quite often see him in the spring on our whale watching tours.

Read More
Jilann LechnerComment