You never know whats out there if you don't go exploring

Its November in the Pacific North West, which basically means that chances of encountering whales isn't guaranteed and its kind of a hit and miss when it comes to finding any whale species. This is definitely the case when you compare it to our busy/peak season in the summer.

A friend took this of me, whilst I was attempting to take photos of orca on this exact trip on November 5.

Here I was about to take a group of people out into the wilderness and have a heap of fun with the hopes of encountering a whale – if i was lucky.. Well, I was lucky enough to begin with, as I had a close friend & colleague departing on a his trip about 30 mins before mine was schedule to push off the dock.

Before I could even start preparing my guests for the adventure i received a call from him reporting that he has a Gray Whale inside the inner harbour of Victoria! My initial reaction to this news was “Bullshit!” due to the highly unlikely probability that there actually was a Gray whale in the harbour.

A grey whale arching its back before descending on a longer dive in the inner harbour of Victoria, BC

After getting a look at this Gray Whale I headed further south to explore the area for different whale species. Then out of nowhere a blow appeared about a mile in front the vessel. As I approached the area I realized that I picked up two Humpback whales slowing cruising side by side.

Humpbacks are quite easy to interact with simply by giving them space and keeping out of their way. Along with driving in a consistent manner – maintaining speed & direction without any drastic altering in any way and the animals will positively respond.

Two 30 ton Humpbacks cruising next to each other - this is typical humpback behaviour on their last breath. Presenting their fluke (tail), which we say is them waving goodbye.

After a few surfacing sequences with these two 30+ton marine mammals I decided to continue searching the local area for more species. After 20 minutes of my search I got a radio call from a different colleague stating he had “Contact. Contact. Black & Whites”. This type of radio call is always music to my ears any time you are on the water. Let alone in November & even after we already had amazing encounters with humpback whales & a damn Gray whale in the harbour.

male orca surfacing

A few short minutes later we were on scene with multiple black fins and blows popping up all over the area. I asked my colleague if he knew what ecotype/population of orca we had here. He didn't know, which is a little bizarre to be honest. The other captains in the area were all quite experienced and knowledgeable about how to correctly identify different ecotypes of orca that we frequent in the Pacific North West. However, after my first look at the individual animals I was also stumped. What we did know is that they weren't Bigg's Orca (mammal hunting orca) or the Southern Resident Orca (SRKW). That left the possibility that they might the rare Offshore Orca, which do come in from time to time but are rarely, very rarely ever encountered. What we think we know about Offshores is that their primary diet is shark species and that is pretty much it...

close to the largest dorsal fin I have personally seen on an orca from around the world.

After much debate & discussion over the radio it we all started to lean towards the notion that these were not Southern Resident Killer Whales (SRKW) BUT Northern Resident Killer Whales (NRKW)!!! I understand that simply stating this doesn't exactly mean anything to you unless you know the basics between these two ecotypes/populations.

Basically, Northern and Southern Residents are both fish eating orca – specializing in salmon, especially, Chinook salmon. However, besides that basic similarity between them – allow me to highlight the major differences between these two populations. Firstly, the population varies, with the SRKW being around 80 individual orca, whereas, the NRKW are somewhat over 300 individual orca. A slight difference there just to begin with. Secondly, these two populations have been genetically separate for around the 8,000 year mark!! Even though their respectable territories are next to each other and slightly overlap no genetic migration between populations has been detected– basically meaning, no socializing or love affairs between these two populations. I don't know what happened 8,000 years ago but apparently these animals can hold a grudge like no-man's business.

lense is too big at this point, as these NRKW forage for salmon in a tidal line.

Lastly, the SRKW typically hang around the lower half of Vancouver Island, they travel into the Pugent sound and do cruise down the west coast of Washington state/Oregon – especially over winter months. Whereas, the NRKW are found on the upper half of Vancouver Island and further north along the coast of British Columbia. To have the NRKW so far south in SRKW territory isn't just rare & cool but F#$KING amazingly cool!

It was so astounding that my usual 3 hour tour ended up going for almost 5 hours, as the NRKW encounter was that incredible that no-one on the vessel wanted to head back to dry land. Well, there might have been but I am the captain and they have to just deal with what I want to do sometimes.

A pof/family of NRKW cruising in the Juan De Fuca Strait.

Later that evening, I was going through my photos and looking through Orca ID guides and established it was 100% Northern Resident Killer Whales. Even to this day when there is a group of us 'whale watchers' having a chat over a few beers, this day still comes up and excitingly talk about it as if it happened that day!

Watching them cruise off into the sunset seems to always be a fitting farewell after such an epic expedition.