3-23-16 Surprise Whales Today

yesterday...March 22nd...
...sunshine and lots of color, but no orca to be seen...
...out on Imagine with Capt. Andy, Maya's Legacy Charters, we went looking to see what we could see...

 

 

...the last image of the day ended up being a great way to start the next day,
...out on Maya's Legacy Charters with Capt. Jim on Peregrine...
Wednesday, March 23rd...

...yes, it was windy and choppy seas and we were heading across Haro Strait to the Saanich Inlet...

 

...it was also about where they were going...

...the T101s and T102 were a group and the T100s and T124A1 were traveling as a group, for a total of 11 whales...

It was a great day for all who saw the whales and hopefully for the whales and their trip down the inlet and back.

 

5-21-14 The T100s and T101s

Wednesday, May 21st
...we get word of one orca seen...'okay, we like that!'...then there were two...they morphed into two more...and two more!...Capt. Jim was going as fast as we could to get over to Barnes and Clark islands over on the northeast side of Orcas Island...
...it was the T100s (minus T100B and B1) and the T101s and T102...
...two adult males, two sprouters, two females, and one juvenile...
...T100E surfacing near mom, T100...

...the T100s and T101s were grouped together...

...the youngest of the group T100E next to adult male T101A...

...T100C is sprouting...

...his dorsal fin looks like it might develop into a leaning fin like T19B...here's a fun comparison of the two...

...T19B's dorsal fin is massive but his fin doesn't look like it from this angle of surfacing...it will be interesting to watch how T100C's dorsal fin develops over the next few years...
...a pause for some intensity!...

...the whales had been spotted heading down, but when they got near Barnes and Clarke they changed direction and headed back up...that's Puffin Island they are passing as they move northwest...

...almost a family group!

...I wonder if the two moms had instructed T101A to go on up ahead and flush out some porpoise or sea lions...

...here he is 'off and running'!

...it was time to head back to the harbor...no telling what they did later...with 2 adult males, two growing boys, plus the two moms and the juvenile, I imagine they ate!...maybe one of those Steller sea lions that were up at East Pt!

5-4-14 A Slice of Life - Orca Style

Sunday, May 4, 2014
...it was May 4th 2009 when J pod and the K13s showed up in Haro Strait  but that wasn't going to happen today...they were in California!...
...instead we had word of transients (Bigg's killer whales), marine mammal eating orca, a large group coming our way...
...out on Maya's Westside Charters for an afternoon trip...the rain was subsiding and the seas were calm...and when we arrived on scene the whales appeared to be heading east...
...as the scene began to unfold we could see there were some individual males up ahead - T102 shown here...also T101A and possibly T87 were spread out close to a 1/2 mile ahead...

...one of several groups...

...the T90s surfaced and the T65As (not in this frame) were near by...

...wow! T124, so the rest of her family is around somewhere...

...members of the T100s, T101s(because T102 is here- I know-confusing), T90s, T65As...and we were only getting started!
...then this whale with a very distinguishing notch surfaced...

...I don't stop to try to figure it out while out there...if I do then I miss images that I could get...so I wait...and was I ever surprised and excited - I've only seen her in 2011 - it's T023!!..now meet the whole family!
...the two youngest I've never seen before...T023C3 and T023D3 are in the DFO (Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans the official book on the transients), but the youngest one (in the middle) isn't...so I've sent my images to the Center for Whale Research...

...soon they stopped traveling...so we all stopped too...and enjoyed being surrounded by a 'slice of life - orca style'...
...it didn't require breaching, or fast travel, or wild leaping or them coming up close...they were just hanging out on a springtime afternoon...it was amazing to watch and not easy to capture the event because the groups were spread all over...
...some groups playing around, others moving slowly in large circles...

...above - the taller fin belongs to T100C...here's a bit closer look...

...luckily I got a picture of him from his other side...

...then I compared his dorsal fin from the last time I saw him (2012) to another image I took of him yesterday and I could see no indentation...

...it might be that with his dorsal fin beginning to grow taller it can be a bit 'wobbly' at the top and that might be causing the strange look...it will be interesting to watch how he grows - he's like a 6th grader who is 'heads above' the rest of his class - tall and gangly!


...the very youngest in this large group of about 27 whales, T65A5, taking a rest next to mom...

...naps don't have to last a long time in the whale world...T65A with baby T65A5 on the right...oh, so sweet...I noticed T65A was doing a lot of resting today...I guess a mom with 4 kids, one a brand new baby, needs lots of rest!
...her oldest,T65A2, and friend T101B were 'whaling around' (as opposed to 'horsing around')...

...heading toward the Swartz Bay ferry terminal...

...a different group heading away from the Swartz Bay ferry terminal...

...kids!

...the folks on that sailboat were about to enter a Slice of Life - Orca Style!

wild and free,

free to roam,

they raise their kids,

teach them the ways of the whale world.

There is something special

that touches our hearts

when we get to see a 

slice of their life. 

Thank you whales.