[Sarah | 05/04/2019 | M/V Kestrel | 10:00am and 2:00pm]
Today’s two adventure tours were super special. We got to spend the whole day exploring the Salish Sea looking for all sorts of wildlife and enjoy some incredible spring weather.
Our 10:00am trip left the dock with a rumor of killer whales around the Strait of Georgia. Reported by some fisherman, there were no commercial whale watch boats with the orcas, so we had to go on a search pattern to find them. We motored up north through Presidents Channel past Patos Island and into the Strait of Georgia. With another whale watch boat in the area we spread out scanning the steely waters of the strait. The other boat called over the radio that they had just talked to another fisherman who had seen orcas in the last 20 minutes. We pointed in that direction, and from three miles away Captain Gabe spotted the whales’ blows, or exhales, above the surface of the water.
We had found the T049As! The whales were in a tight group clearly sharing a kill. These Bigg’s killer whales are marine mammal eaters, eating our numerous marine mammals in the Salish Sea. This morning’s kill looked as though it was a Steller’s sea lion, one of the larger prey items that they hunt in and around our waters. We watched as the whales socialized and shared their prey under the surface.
On our 2:00pm tour we still had the morning’s whales in range of our boat. With a bit of time on our side we decided to go look for some other wildlife before heading towards the whales. We checked out some Steller’s sea lions, harbor seals, and bald eagles on and around Spieden Island before heading north to catch up with the orcas!
We found the whales in the middle of the Strait of Georgia. We marveled at the sheer size of T049A1, a eighteen year old male, and caught glimpses of the family’s new calf. Orcas are matriarchal, and tend to stay with their mothers for their entire lives. The family is totally held together by the bond with their mothers, and these females are the keepers of all the family’s wisdom… where to find the most seals, how to hunt swiftly and efficiently, where to meet up with other families to socialize.
It was an amazing day spent in the company of amazing wildlife!