June 10, 2023: T46Cs | Gulf Islands, B.C.
Date: Saturday, June 10, 2023
Location: Gulf Islands, BC, Canada
Weather: Rain, 59 degrees Fahrenheit with 2mph winds from E
Tide: High to ebb
Pods/Matrilines/Individuals: T46Cs
Total Whale Count: 4
Behaviors: Traveling
Boat Count: 2 (2 whale watch boats)
We took a trip up to Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada with Orca Conservancy’s Board Secretary Kendra Nelson and sailed out of Nanaimo with Vancouver Island Whale Watch. We made the trip up after meeting a fellow whale advocate on TikTok, Aly, who invited us to join her on a trip out which we could not pass up. We are much more versed and familiar with the Southern region of the Salish Sea, so it was quite exciting to explore more of the northern region in the Strait of Georgia.
We were hoping being in a new area would lead to seeing a new matriline (new in terms of new to Orca Conservancy), as well as getting to see a completely new place. We were in luck, as the T46Cs were in the area, which is a matriline that we had not yet seen.
After leaving the marina, the other vessel with the same company was en route to the T46Cs, recently reported to the south of us. While the other tour went to find the 46Cs, our tour took us northeast where we viewed a large colony of steller sea lions hauled out on small rock formation off of Valdes Island. We viewed the sea lions for a little bit before making our way south to see the orcas.
The company that we were with likes to alternate viewing with their vessels to limit traffic around the whales. Between this practice and the rainy weather, at any given time during the tour, there was only two or one boats present.
The travels to the orcas took us south to the inner section of the Gulf Islands towards Salt Spring Island. Upon arrival the T46Cs were in travel mode, taking a few cycles of breath followed by long downtimes of 7 to 8 minutes. On the downtimes, we would often have to search for them again as they would resurface in different locations. On the last looks of the whales, after one of their deep dives, they surfaced fairly close to our vessel. The captain promptly shut the boat off for the safety of the whales and to limit noise disturbance, and we were able to hear the sounds of their exhales.
After the whales left and went on another deep dive we made our way back to port and sailed through Dodds Narrows, which is a popular land-based whale-watching spot in the area based on how the water narrows providing the shore locations excellent view points from either side.
T46s: T46C Carmanah (female b. 1994), T46C1 Tsunami (male b. 2006), *T46C2 Sam (female b. 2009), T46C3 Razor (sex unknown b. 2013) T46C4 Hobi (sex unknown b. 2018)
*Indicates individual was not present during encounter
Learn more about the T46Cs and other matrilines on our Transient page.
Download the free Department of FIsheries Canada Bigg’s Transients ID guide
