The Day is Never Stale with a Bigg's Killer Whale
Maxx K. | M/V Sea Lion | 03/28/2022 |12:30pm
I was beyond excited to be back on the water today, having taken the winter to spend some time back home with family in North Carolina. And let me tell you, while I love coastal North Carolina, it’s deeply unlikely that you’re going to be seeing many Killer Whales regularly over there. Needless to say, it felt absolutely phenomenal getting back out here, zooming through the islands and scanning the horizon for whale blows again. It was pure adrenaline, pure bliss.
The Salish Sea had been bountiful with whales within the last few days so I had very good vibes about today. We zoomed northward- up and around Saturna island and through Trumbo channel in an effort to escape the bumpy seas in the Strait of Georgia.
The reports at that point were of two whales, both Bigg’s Killer whale with a loose assumption that the large male that had been spotted was T065A2, otherwise known as “Ooxjaa.” I love this whale. He’s a maturing whale, assumed to have been born in 2004 and a proper mama’s boy. Once he had been confirmed in the area, we felt confident the rest of his family must've been nearby.
When we found him, he was moving at a steady 3 knot pace towards the southeast, rising up every 25-30 seconds or so to then dive again, leaving a smearing of glassy water in his wake. Suddenly though, his behavior changed. He raced forward, picking up speed to 9 knots, racing through the choppy seas ahead of him. At one point during his dive he remained just under the water; only the tip of his dorsal fin sliced the surface. Just beyond him, a few hundred meters ahead, two more blows appeared on the horizon: T065A “Artemis” and T065A6 “Callisto/Butterbean.” On our starboard another whale appeared, T065A5 “Elsie.”
Here we were in the presence of an entire family of Killer Whales! We moved cautiously alongside them, watching as they surfaced on either side of Sea Lion. There's a long standing whale watching cliche, “keep your heads on a swivel.” and it couldn't be more pertinent than today. There were whales everywhere! My gosh how I’ve missed this.
Before too long we wrapped around Waldron Island and through President's Channel as we carried on home, the sun now fully emerging through the clouds. Bliss.