Biggs Orca All Around Today
A beautiful day out there on the water today. We had Killer Whales and Humpbacks known here as Biggs Orca and Divot & Fader, two Humpback whales in Haro Strait. On the way, we stopped off to see a couple of Bald Eagles. Lots of them around today.
The first pod of whales we saw was the T123’s. A few pics turned out, but the water was pretty rough in Rosario today. One pic shows the little one with big brother. We were viewing a pod of four orcas.
On the way to the next pod, we stopped off to see a few Harbor Seals or Orca Sausages as I call them.
I learned the water was much more beautiful up in the Strait of Georgia with the T49A’s. The T49A’s is a pod I have seen multiple times in the last few days. T49A is the matriarch of the family. T49A1 is the big male. T49A2 does not travel much with this pod. However. The rest of the pod, T49A3, A4, and A5 all were present. T49A5 is about two years old, the little one in the family.
We were off Saturna Island on the east side. After a bit, we idled away and started heading towards a humpback whale I learned was not far out of route on the way home.
Some people ask why we call the Transients Bigg’s Orca. There was a Canadian Marine Biologist, Mike Bigg’s who came up with the idea to photo ID the killer whales. His colleagues dissed the idea, but this has been the accepted standard for decades now. One of our SRKW’s, J26 is named “Mike” to honor him as well.
Divot and Fader
After navigating through Johns pass and working over towards the south side of Stuart Island, we saw blows. Arriving on the scene with the humpbacks, it became clear there were two whales present. I later learned it was Divot and Fader traveling together.
After a few surfacings, we started back for the harbor. Our tour ended as an extended one but very nice to see all the marine life out on the water today. Having the Biggs Orca and Divot & Fader made it pretty special. Two other pods popped up on our network, but we were not in the area to see them.
We had a beautiful view of Mount Baker today with Patos Island Lighthouse that made a beautiful photo for sharing.
Check out some of my other photoblog pages at Whale Tales.
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