Whale Blog

The End of a Fantastic Season!

Well it’s that time of year when things are coming to a close. Summer seems so busy, but then it is gone before you know it! It was a busy season for Orca Spirit Adventures, with the addition of our new boat, the Orca Spirit II, and the usual bustle of whale watching trips.
The Orca Spirit II is the company’s newest addition to the fleet. It is a 100 foot catamaran, with a capacity of 168 passengers. Being a luxurious boat, it was most often used for charter events, including a wedding, Symphony Splash, Canada Day celebrations, and many dinner cruises. The Orca Spirit II did not get left out of our whale watching tours, as we often used it when we had many guests, especially on days when the cruise ships come to visit Victoria. With word out that the Orca Spirit II is a perfect venue for all kinds of parties and events, we are looking forward to using it even more next season!
At the heart of our business are the whales, and it was a great season for sightings! The Southern Resident Killer Whale population is the group of whales that we see most often throughout the season. Over the winter of 2010-20100, we sadly lost four members of the population including Ruffles (J-1), Keet (J-33), Georgia (K-11), and Canuck (L-7). Although we miss all the whales that pass on, the hardest felt loss was Ruffles. He was the oldest male in the population and the icon of the Southern Residents. With his characteristic wavy dorsal fin, you could see him from a couple of miles away! But Ruffles lived to a ripe old age of 59, and new paternity tests reveal that he left us with many of his offspring! We also had two new babies this summer! Little L-117 was born in June and K-44, already identified as a male, was born in July. The calves entertained guests with their playful behaviour and tiny appearance. We hope to see more new calves when we return next summer. The transient orcas frequented our waters throughout the summer too. We had great whale watching trips where the transients were engaged in hunting seals and porpoises, and we saw lots of transients being uncharacteristically active, breaching, spy-hopping and playing. Many great photos of the transients were taken this season!
It was also a great summer for humpback sightings. Though they are most common from mid-August to the end of October, we did see a few in the spring and even one in July. The humpback population is increasing in the North Pacific, and we now get to enjoy more humpbacks in the Strait of Juan de Fuca every year! Minke whales were spotted on many trips, usually foraging at Hein Bank. The most exciting event with the minkes this season, was the appearance of a few calves with their mothers. It is rare for us to see minkes with their calves in such protected waters, as they are primarily an open ocean species. We also had a few trips this year where the minkes breached, a VERY rare behaviour for this type of whale. Opposite of last season, we did not have many sightings of any gray whales. Gray whales are not a common species in the area, so some years they are around often, and some years they are elusive. The good news is that the North Pacific population is believed to be at pre-whaling time numbers. We hope they come for more visits to our area in the future.
Another rare species to see in our waters are the Pacific White-Sided Dolphins. In June we were fortunate to see a group of these fascinating acrobats right outside the harbour. We had many trips where we saw Harbour Porpoises and Dall’s Porpoises. These speedy cetaceans patrolled the tide lines searching for fish and leaped above the surface as they engaged in speed swimming. We can’t forget to mention all the Harbour Seals, California and Stellar’s Sea Lions. The majority of the time, these chunky animals crowded the shores of Race Rocks Lighthouse, showing guests how rowdy and loud they can really be. We also enjoyed countless other marine creatures from bald eagles to elephant seals. Every trip was a new adventure with new animals to see and exciting behaviours to behold.
As the season ends, we have already started to plan for next year. We are all looking forward to spring, when we can get back out on the water and introduce guests new and returning to the wildlife of the Salish Sea. If you have never went whale watching before, or are a seasoned watcher, come join us next year, in what will be a promising and fantastic season!

October 16, 2011

Transient Orcas and Humpback Whale Sightings

October 15, 2011

Today was a beautiful fall day to spend the afternoon on the water! The Pacific Explorer whisked our guests east of the harbour where we found transient orcas within 20 minutes of leaving the dock! Now that is lucky! There were four of these mammal-hunting orcas stalking the shoreline of Victoria. They were likely looking for harbour seals to fill their hungry stomachs. Transient orcas need to eat between 200 and 300 pounds of food a day, the equivalent of 1-2 seals. Amongst the family there were three females and one adult male, who we soon identified as T-018, a female with two distinct nicks out of her dorsal fin, T-019, who is the mother of T-019B and T-019C, also amongst the group. T-019B is the big male, with a six foot dorsal fin that leans to the left. He was born in 1995 and his younger sibling was born in 2001. We watched as the whales made their way northeast, swimming right against the shoreline.

We decided to leave the orcas and keep making our way east, towards San Juan Island, where we found a humpback! Predator and prey in the same area! How exciting! Transient killer whales would not attack this large humpback, but they do go after young calves as they make their way north in the spring. The massive humpbacks are up to 48 feet long and can weigh as much as 40 tons. We watched as the whale surfaced, releasing massive plumes of mist, and everyone was amazed by the beauty of the humpback's tail fluke rising above the surface before it embarked on a long dive. After quality time spent with the humpback, we met up again with the transient orca group as they made their way east. Just when we were about to head back to Victoria, we noticed that the orcas were chasing a pod of Dall's Porpoise! It was intense, as the orcas would leap out of the water, landing on top on a jumping Dall's Porpoise! The chase led the whales in circles, but in the end, one porpoise did not have such a great day, but 4 orcas were fed. All part of the circle of life. We enjoyed our sunny ride back, as the waters were calm and everyone on board was filled with new memories!

An Incredible Thanksgiving Tour

October 9, 2011

This afternoon, on a lovely Thanksgiving Sunday, we headed just south of Victoria to view southern resident orcas. What an incredible day, with flat calm seas and sunny skies and whales everywhere. We arrived on scene to watch the orcas and immediately noticed at least two humpback whales nearby! Our encounter with the orcas was amazing. We had a lovely visit with the J17 matriline, including Polaris (J28) and her calf. A highlight was a thrilling encounter with K26 (Lobo) and K37 (Rainshadow). The vocalizations were beautiful this fine afternoon. We even heard one whale do a "raspberry" above the water. After our orca encounter, we made the short journey to Race Rocks.

At Race Rocks, we saw some pretty spectacular predation behaviour from some Steller sea lions, eating an unidentified species of fish. After the sea lion encounter, we headed back towards the harbour but were keeping our eyes open for the humpback whales that were spotted earlier. Not too long after leaving Race Rocks, we spotted a couple of humpback whales. One of the humpback whales was "Splitfin", a humpback whale with a dorsal fin wound that has been spotted in each of the last four years. It was an incredible trip.

A Tour Filled With Excitement and Many Marine Mammals!

October 8, 2011

A small group of guests joined us on our afternoon adventure today, and they were lucky to be on board! Before we even left the harbour, 3 California Sea Lions were swimming in the water! Normally we have to travel 7 miles to Race Rocks before we get to see sea lions. These fury critters reach 1500 pounds and make lots of noise day and night with their characteristic barking. After a quick viewing of the sea lions, we hooked a left turn out of the harbour and headed towards San Juan Island, our favourite part of Washington! We were within 2 miles of the island's western shores, when we spotted 2 humpbacks! Another surprising find, as we rarely see humpbacks this far east. The pair were a mother and her growing calf, enjoying some relaxing time and last minute feeding before continuing on their journey to Hawaii. Humpbacks are smart, they go spend time off BC and Alaska during our summer to feed, then they head to Hawaii for our winters to socialize, mate and give birth. I wish I could take the winters off to go to Hawaii! Continuing on our lucky streak with mammal sightings, a group of Dall's Porpoises surrounded the boat, leaping out of the water! They looked to be chasing small fish as they hopped and lunged around. Dall's Porpoises are not shy of boats, often engaging in bow riding much like dolphins do. We were amazed to have such awesome wildlife all around us!
The humpbacks and Dall's Porpoises were fascinating, but with the luck we were having, we decided to move closer to San Juan Island and see if something else awaited us. Members of the Southern Resident Killer Whale population were traveling and fishing just south of Lime Kiln Park, making their way north. After only a few minutes with the orcas, we were able to identify 2 of the whales. J-30 or Riptide is a male born in 1995, so he is getting a tall dorsal fin. He is the son of Samish (J-14), and the older brother of Hy'Shqa (J-37), Suttles (J-40) and Se-Yi-Chn (J-45). Swimming near Riptide was Spieden or J-8. Spieden is one of the oldest orcas in the population, turning 78 this season! Spieden is easier to identify by her breathing that her saddlepatch and dorsal fin. She makes a wheezing sound as she sucks air into her lungs when she surfaces. We could definitely hear her today! A nick at the base of her dorsal fin confirmed that it was Spieden with us. Later we saw a large group of females and all their young calves. We were treated to seeing the youngest calf in the population, K-44 who was born in July, with his Mom Deadhead (K-27). She was hanging out with Princess Angeline (J-17), Polaris (J-28) and Tahlequah (J-35). Princess Angeline is the mother of Polaris, Tahlequah, and Moby. Polaris and Tahlequah both had calves within a few months of each other, Star and Notch respectively. Even more interesting is that Princess Angeline also had Moby in the same few months as her daughters’ calves! So when the family is together, there is lots of activity. And the hydrophone revealed how chatty these whales can be! It was a fantastic trip full of excitement and many marine mammals!

Humpback and Orca Sightings

October 7, 2011

Today we headed out on the Strait of Juan de Fuca with an anxious group of guests, all looking forward to seeing the largest beasts in the world- the whales! Well the whales did not disappoint us, as after only traveling a few miles straight south, we found two humpbacks! Humpbacks are the largest of the four types of whales that we have the opportunity to see in our waters. The largest humpbacks are the females, who are 48 feet long and weigh up to 40 tons! They need to store huge amounts of fat to make the long journey to Hawaii and back. The females need to be bigger than the males, as they are the ones that need to support a long pregnancy and feed a very hungry and fast growing calf. The humpbacks we saw today were a mother and her calf, soon to be a year old. The surfaced several times side-by-side and lifted their massive tail flukes up for all to see before they went down for a longer, deeper dive.
After a splendid visit with these majestic whales, we decided to see what else might be in the waters. We made our way east towards San Juan Island where we were greeted by the sights of killer whales surfacing over a wide range of the water. All the whales looked to be fishing for the last of the season's spawning salmon. The orcas spend over 6 months within the area, foraging on the salmon that are heading up the Frasier River to spawn in the freshwater streams. A teenage male who we soon identified as DoubleStuf was eagerly chasing a salmon, we watched as he turned and rolled in hot pursuit of some afternoon lunch. DoubleStuf or J-34, is the son of Oreo (J-22) and brother to young Cookie (J-38), a female born in 2003. Orcas spend their entire lives in the company of their immediate family. Then another male came into the same area as us, it was Blackberry (J-27), a well known male who is very easy to pick out with his unique swirl in his saddlepatch. Blackberry turned 20 years old this season, making him a mature male in the Southern Resident population. He has a younger sister and a brother, the three are usually seen within the same area. Other orcas were spotted as well; we saw many females and even some young calves, always close to their moms! It was a special visit with the whales, but time flies when you are having fun, so we headed back to Victoria. We stopped at Trial Island to check out a Bald Eagle perched on the top of the island, enjoying some kind of food he had in his or her talons. We also spotted a few dozen Harbour Seals resting near the water’s edge, trying to keep warm in the sun. Calm waters saw us home, everyone happy to have seen so many kinds of marine wildlife!

Wonderful Day on the Water!

October 3, 2011

This morning we didn't have much luck finding whales. Despite our tireless efforts to spot animals south of Victoria, then as far west as we can go, nothing popped up. The afternoon proved more successful as we made our way west again, with reports that whales were heading in from that direction. We made our way to Sooke Harbour when we spotted the familiar black dorsal fins of orcas! Two types of orcas come into our waters, one kind being the transients who are distinguished as mammal hunters and travel in a single matriline, and resident orcas who eat fish and travel in large pods made up of multiple matrilines. The group we happened to find were transients, cruising the waters in search or Harbour Seals or porpoises to eat. The first group we saw, we identified as the T-010 matriline. T-010 is the mother and she was accompanied by her two sons, T-010B and T-010C. This little family patrolled the shoreline, and by the swarm of birds above them at one point, they must have made a kill! Orcas need 200-300 pounds of food a day, so it is great to see that they are successfully catching the food they need.
It was not long after we joined the T-010's, when from the other side of the boat we heard the blows of two more transients, a pair of females, likely a mother and her daughter. They followed close behind the T-010's, also stalking the coast. Things couldn't get better when another group of 2 orcas came up from behind, this time a female and a younger calf. We were about to leave the orcas when all 7 whales surfaced in one large group! It was great! Our guests got to see the size differences between adult males, females and young. Transients often join other transient groups to socialize, cooperatively hunt, and find a mate. With the transient population here at a Threatened status, it is always great to see them meet up in hopes that the population will have a new calf in 17 months!
On the way home, we stopped at Race Rocks to take in all the marine park has to offer. At first we could see dozens of Harbour Seals vegged out along the bottom of the rocky islands. Harbour Seals are not agile walkers on land, they need to flop around on their bellies, so they tend to stay near the water’s edge. Then the barking and growling of the California and Steller Sea Lions could be heard. The massive sea lions also like to spend much of their time on land, soaking up the sun and battling each other for space on the rocks. And nothing beats the beauty of Race Rocks Lighthouse, with its black and white stripes towering into the skyline! It was a wonderful afternoon on the water; we had an amazing day with the transient orcas, sea lions and seals!

Breaching Orcas!

October 2, 2011

We headed out of Victoria this morning hoping the rain would hold off and it did! It turned out to be a fantastic morning on the water, with flat seas. We headed southwest of Victoria, out into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It was not a long ride when we first spotted black triangular fins in the distance. Because we only saw a few at first we suspected that they were mammal hunting or transient orcas, but once we got closer, we saw an open saddle patch, so we knew they had to be residents. Only residents can have a saddle patch with an open black area through it, all transients in the North Pacific have solid gray or white saddle patches. Mega or L-41 was the first whale we identified, with his tall dorsal fin and defining nick out of the trailing edge. Mega is part of the L-12 matriline, who always travel together. This family consists of grandmother Alexis (L-12), who was born in 1933, and her grandchildren and great-grand child. We saw Mega (L-41), the oldest male in the population born in 1977, Matia (L-77), born in 1987, and Calypso (L-94), born in 1995. Calypso had her first calf Cousteau (L-113), who is a little boy born in 2009. Cousteau was the star of the trip today, he breached 3 times within the first 5 minutes of us seeing the whales! His playful behaviour continued throughout the trip as the orcas traveled east. Young orcas are often very active, trying to encourage their mothers and other family members to play with them. Cousteau breached so many times this morning, I lost count, likely more than 20 times! It was wonderful!
After a great visit with the orcas, we decided to head further west to search for any other activity in the area. It was great that we found the orcas when we did, as a massive fog bank developed, making it difficult to see. We cruised around until we made our way over to Race Rocks Lighthouse. Here we met the California and Steller Sea Lions and many Harbour Seals. Race Rocks is the second oldest lighthouse on the Canadian Pacific, being built in 1860. The sea lions love the area, as they use it as their primary fishing grounds and hang out spot. The sea lions were lying out on the rocks, wrestling each other for the best spots on the islands. After we left the lighthouse, the excitement was not over! We found 2 humpbacks surfacing together in the middle of the Strait! The pair were likely a mother and her calf, who both had grown in size since their annual migration to the northern waters, where they eat and eat and eat, before heading back down to Hawaii, where the humpbacks calve, breed and socialize with others of their kind. The journey is long, and the whales lose up to 17 tons of weight while they are traveling to and spending the winter in warmer waters. So it was a jam-packed morning with so many amazing animals that make the North Pacific waters their home!

After a successful morning with whale sightings, we were eager to get back out on the water this afternoon to see if we could find them again! Guests boarded the Orca Spirit and we cruised to the east, as the orcas we saw this morning were headed in that direction. Would we find them again? Of course we did! Off San Juan Island, Washington, we were relieved to find orcas surfacing together in two different groups. All the orcas belonged to L-pod, the largest pod in the Southern Resident Killer Whale community, with 42 family members. J-pod has 27 whales and K-pod has 20 whales, including the newest member to the population, 3 month old K-44, a little male who will be named next summer. The first group we seen included L-41 or Mega, L-24 or Ocean Sun, L-94 or Calypso and her little son Cousteau or L-113. Ocean Sun is the second oldest orca in the community, born in 1924. Her and Alexis (L-12), are the matriarch leaders of L-pod. Ocean Sun has no immediate living family members, except for her daughter Lolita, who is a captive orca in the Miami Seaquarium, so she tends to hang out with the L-12 matrilne.
The second group of whales we visited had two mature males, Skana (L-79) and Solstice (-89) in the group, who happen to be brothers. It is very typical for orcas to travel very close to their family members, Skana and Solstice are rarely seen apart from each other! Awww! Even the apex predators of the world are very sweet and loving towards each other. In fact, the bonds between orca family members are said to be the strongest in the world. Not surprisingly, the two big boys were spending their Sunday afternoon with their Mom, Spirit (L-22). Spirit is 31 this year, and a great mother. She suffered a great loss in 1993 when she lost her only daughter, who was 7 at the time of her death. Even though female orcas can have calves into their early forties, Spirit has not had another calf since Solstice was born in 1993. Excitement erupted when one of the males breached out of the water! With cameras aimed at the spot where he jumped, along came another 2 breaches! It was fantastic! Imagine launching a 27-foot, 8 ton body out of the water! Many of our guests caught the playful behaviour on camera, and were very happy people indeed! After a perfect whale watching trip we headed back to Victoria, but not without a stop at Trial Island for a look at the Harbour Seals that were resting on the rocks, avoiding the cold waters. Thanks to everyone who joined us today, it was fun to share so many great moments with you!

Photos from today's tours:

Perfect End to September

September 30, 2011

The weatherman predicted that our guests who have a rainy day on the water today, but not surprisingly, he was wrong! We sailed out of the Harbour with the sun breaking through the cloud layer and the water was ideal for traveling and whale watching. We made our way east, aiming for the shores of San Juan Island. Once we got there, we could see blows from resident orcas in all directions. The whales appeared to be very spread out, looking for and chasing salmon individually. Orcas do display many different tactics for hunting, but today was solo fishing day. We were able to identify K-21, a mature male in K-pod commonly called Cappuccino. We also saw several females with their shorter, curved dorsal fins, and young whales who appear much smaller than their adult family members. After watching the whales head north, they changed direction and started heading back south. We found our first group of whales of the day, who we soon identified as the J-16 matriline. Orcas are a female dominated society, each family led by the head female. J-16 or Slick, is a mother of four, all her children traveling with her. We were treated to the sights of Mike (J-26), Keet (J-33), Alki (J-36), and Echo (J-42). You can learn more about this family and even adopt a whale of your own at www.whale-museum.org. On our way home, we stopped by Chatham Island and Chain Islands to see the Harbour Seals relaxing on the rocks. Harbour Seals will spend over 40% of their day lying out on the rocks to conserve precious energy that they would otherwise burn in the frigid waters. Everyone onboard enjoyed their afternoon with the whales, many excited about their next wildlife adventure!

Another Day With SuperPod!

September 29, 2011

The waters off Victoria today were welcoming to our whale watching trip to San Juan Island! We cruised over to the Washington state owned island to look for members of the Southern Resident Orca population. Well our efforts did not go to waste because we found SUPERPOD!! When all three resident pods are in the same area at the same time, we call it Superpod. Superpod days are few and far between most of the summer, this last week being the best time of the seasonr for superpod days. We watched with excitement as K-21 or Cappuccino passed by with several females. Cappuccino is the only mature male in K-pod and my (Rachael) adopted whale! The Whale Museum on San Juan Island has an adoption program where you can choose the whale you want to adopt, and all the proceeds go to whale research and protection efforts! Check it out for yourself at www.whale-museum.org.
The whales were swimming fast, displaying porpoising behaviour. There were whales in all directions and we were treated to a few spectacular breaches and countless cartwheels, where the whales back end is launched out of the water, exposing their bellies and tail flukes. We moved to a different group of whales to see who else we could identify. There were several adult males in the area, including the brother duo of L-78 or Gaia and L-88 Wavewalker. Gaia was born in 1988 and his brother Wavewalker is 4 years younger. Orcas have very strong family bonds, so it is rare to see one of these boys without the other! We also saw many of the young calves from L-pod playing and fishing alongside their mothers. The chatter on the hydrophone blew up when the youngsters were close by! The sounds of orcas are amusing and amazing, each community of orcas around the world having their own language. We had a fantastic day on the water with the whales, and so many great photos were taken. Some of our guests even caught pictures of the breaches! National geographic shots for sure! Thanks to all our awesome guests for coming with us to see these amazing animals in their natural home, doing exactly what wild whales want to do!