Maxx | M/V Kestrel | September 11th 2024 | 2:00pm
Killer whales in this region are not tagged and haven’t been since 2013 (except for the occasional use of non-piercing suction cup tagging devices that are deployed every now and again). The devices that are used are almost exclusively used for data collection: determining where whales travel, what depths they’re diving to, what depth within in the water collum they’re typically feeding, and so on. Therefore, we don’t use tagging data to find whales. We rely purely on sightings and rumors of whales that occur randomly throughout the day.
Kestrel traveled north initially, following up on a rumor of whales north within Vancouver Island’s Gulf Islands. Imagine our surprise when a family of six unnoticed Killer Whales emerged just underneath Turn Point Lighthouse on Stuart Island! We encourage our guests to keep their heads on a swivel as we transit as whales pop up on us randomly semi-frequently- and today was a prime example.
I had my hunches almost immediately about who this family was: this must be the T049As.
There was at least one maturing male, his taller yet wobbly dorsal fin a bit more obvious juxtaposed to the five other whales traveling with him. The youngest whale was quite small, potentially Charlie II? One good look at this little whale’s chin and I’d know for sure as little Charlie II has a significant underbite.
They rolled over one another as they traveled, stopping periodically to mill about before continuing onward. By the time we departed the family managed to travel through Johns Pass and between the Cactus Islands where they seemed to stop at each Harbor seal haul out in their path. It wasn’t obvious they were feeding until just before we left, when T049A3 emerged carrying something in his mouth (likely an unlucky Harbor seal collected at Green Point.
We carried on from there, swiftly making our way back home as the whales finished their evening meal.