Another week on the water led to more whale sightings and some fickle spring weather. It turned chilly, a little rainy, and overcast, but that did not stop us from venturing out to “see what we could see.” We headed to Canada quite a bit, into the beautiful but far reaches of Saanich Inlet and around some of the Gulf Islands to find an interesting assortment of killer whales.
On Thursday, we spent some time in Saanich Inlet with Bigg’s killer whales, the T46B1s – mother “Tread” and two of her surviving offspring, and with them was Tread’s younger cousin T46C2 “Sam.” This quad has been spending more and more time together over the last couple seasons, and it was nice to see they’re still traveling together as of this spring!
On Friday we headed back to Saanich Inlet to encounter two Bigg’s killer whale “roving males” (meaning they have dispersed from their original family groups and often travel alone, or occasionally sync up with other unrelated whales) that have been spending some time traveling together as of late. T124C “Cooper,” a mature male born 1992, and T37A3 “Spinnaker,” an adolescent male at just 12 years old. While it may seem an odd pairing, Spinnaker is likely learning from his time spent with Cooper, and with killer whales being very social creatures, it’s safe to say Cooper is benefiting from this temporary interaction, too.
On Saturday, the crew headed back across the border toward D’Arcy and Sidney Islands to catch up with Bigg’s killer whales, the T123s–a family group that was named after geographical areas right around the spots they were seen! Mother T123 Sidney was leading T123A Stanley,
T123C “Lucky,” and T123D “D’Arcy” through some sporty chop being created by winds pushing through the area. Following trends over the last several years, it was nice to see them make their mid-May appearance in the central Salish Sea.
On Sunday, we experienced a light drizzle and clouds, but also got to bask in some sun–which was a welcomed sight to wrap up our week. Our guests encountered the T19s – mother T19 “Nootka,” and her two mature sons, T19B “Galiano,” and T19C “Spouter.” They were so impressed by the overall size and massive dorsal fins on the males, commenting about just how much their mother appears to be dwarfed in their presence. Also moving against an outgoing tide, this trio didn’t seem to be making much progress as they treaded water in Spieden Channel during our entire encounter. As always, the “oohs” and “ahhs” for the T19 boys were extensive, leaving smiles on the crews’ faces as well.
