Latest Sightings

A publication of Wild Ocean Whale Society (WOWs)

More NRKWs, Breaching Humpbacks, Bigg’s and More

Cover Image: Humpback putting on an amazing show! Kurt Staples, Eagle Eye Adventures Some more of the Northern Resident Orca population have made their way into the top of Johnstone Strait They still have not ventured very far down the Strait. While the Southern Resident pods are staying well to the south in Puget Sound…
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Cetaceans Spreading Out

Cover Image: Humpback breaching off of Steep Island Jos Krynen, Eagle Eye Adventures The Northern Resident Orca are still staying up at the top end of Johnstone Strait, but the Transient Bigg’s are certainly on the move through various channels and into inlets.Humpback Whales are still frequenting Mitlenatch Island and the inlets just up from…
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Comox Orca Moves On, Humpbacks in Numbers, Plus …

Cover Image: Bigg’s heading north towards the Powell River Mill Michelle Pennell, Powell River, BC T073B the lone male Bigg’s Orca that had stayed in Comox Harbour for a couple of weeks has finally moved out with a bit of help by playing Orca sounds outside the harbour to coax him out. While he was…
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Concern Over Bigg’s T073B in Comox, Active Humpbacks and More

Cover Image: Humpback in front of Powell River with trap line in mouth may still be entangled Susan MacKay, Wild Ocean Whale Society Concern rises over Transient Bigg’s T073B’s behaviour and the number of boats and other vessels in the Comox Harbour. Although he appears healthy, this is highly unusual to have an Orca stay…
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Bigg’s Orca in Comox, Whales Finally Along Mainland Side

Cover Image: Humpback fluking off of Bullock Bluff Kurt Staples, Eagle Eye Adventures Bigg’s Orca in Comox, Whales Finally Along Mainland SideUnusual to have T073B alone and inside Comox Harbour hunting for days on end. He arrived with his siblings, who then left him to hunt seals off the river. The fact he stayed in…
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Orca, Grey Whales, Humpback Central, Dolphins and Porpoise

Cover Image: Humpback breaching close to Francisco Point Jos Krynen, Eagle Eye Adventures More of the Northern Resident (fish eating) Killer Whale populations are back into the upper Johnstone Strait and Broughtons areas, so the fish are starting to come in as well. The Transient Bigg’s (meat eating) Orca have been passing through areas of…
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NRKWs, Transient Biggs, Humpbacks All Over and Playful Dolphins

Cover Image: Humpback Whale up close and personal! Jos Krynen, Eagle Eye Adventures The A30 family of the Northern Resident Orca population came into the upper Johnstone Strait, while a few family pods of the Transient Bigg’s Orca appear to be pushing the Pacific White Sided Dolphins father into inlets and Johnstone Strait.Humpback Whales, on…
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Northern Resident Orca, Humpbacks, Dolphins and a Few Porpoise

Cover Image: Humpback, BCY0057 Niagara, fluking off of South Rendezvous Island Kurt Staples, Eagle Eye Adventures The A23’s, Northern Resident Killer Whales, have returned to the upper Johnstone Strait and Broughtons area. Reports of salmon starting to showing up a bit more, they are following the food. We also had one report of unidentified Killer…
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Killer Whales, Humpbacks, Dolphins and a Porpoise

Cover Image: Pacific White Sided Dolphins putting on a show! Jos Krynen, Eagle Eye Adventures A couple more family pods of Transient Bigg’s Orca passed throught the Georgia Strait heading up into Johnstone Strait where some Northern Resident Orca made a great appearance.Humpback Whales seem to be everywhere along the Vancouver Island side of Georgia…
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Orca Transit While Humpacks Move into Inlets

Cover Image: Pacific White Sided Dolphins heading south off of the Walkem Islands Garry Henkel, Aboriginal Journeys Whale and Grizzly Bear Tours A few Transient Bigg’s Orca pods have been seen transitting through our upper Georgia Strait regions mostly heading northward. Just after publishing how our ‘resident’ Transient Bigg’s the T002C’s were always in our…
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Humpback Soup On The Water

Cover Image: Humpback showing off off of Quadra Island Kurt Staples, Eagle Eye Adventures It’s estimated that we have somewhere in the neighbourhood of 40 Humpbacks already in the upper Georgia Strait and local inlets at this time. And there are more arriving. We find it unusual that there is no food for them close…
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Humpback Whales Leaping Everywhere

Cover Image: Bigg’s, T002s, heading south past Squirrel Cove Garry Henkel, Aboriginal Journeys Whale and Grizzly Bear Tours Humpbacks have been having a great time popping out of the water non-stop. These shows don’t usually last too long, but we have been hearing that some have breached many times over providing opportunity to actually capture…
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Breaching Humpbacks Galore – Boaters Need to be Aware

Cover Image: Humpback Whale breaching between Penn Islands and Von Donop Inlet Garry Henkel, Aboriginal Journeys Whale and Grizzly Bear Tours Humpback Whales have been returning in numbers offering up some impressive shows. But, boaters seriously need to take more care! There was yet another vessel strike of a Humpback Whale on the 20th. Not…
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Whales Returning in Numbers

Cover Image: Humpback Whale breaching between Raza Island and Rendezvous Islands Garry Henkel, Aboriginal Journeys Whale and Grizzly Bear Tours Over the past few years, we have had an exponential increase in whale activity in the inner waters of the Georgia Strait. There are shifts that are very obvious through our reports as well as…
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Humpback Whales Breaching All Over the Place

Cover Image: Bigg’s Killer Whales heading southwest by Rebecca Spit Garry Henkel, Aboriginal Journeys Whale and Grizzly Bear Tours Although Transient Biggs are being seen up and down the regions, the Humpback Whales are being noted for breaching as they return in numbers to our central and upper Georgia Strait. Neither of these two species…
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Bigg’s and Humpback Whales Plus

Cover Image: Humpback Whale breaching off of Vancouver Island Garry Henkel, Aboriginal Journeys Whale and Grizzly Bear Tours Bigg’s T077A has been joining up with some of the other Transient Bigg’s in the upper Georgia Strait, presumably for mating purposes. He’s also been seen roaming around on his own, similar to what T087 was doing…
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Humpbacks Slowly Returning Bigg’s Still Hunting

Cover Image: Transient Bigg’s Killer Whale spyhopping near Welcome Bay at Texada Island Stan Novotny, Eagle Eye Adventures Bigg’s T002Cs and T023s are still travelling and hunting together. Some Pacific White Sided Dolphins had been hiding out in Cortez Bay for a bit and the Orca checked out the entrance for them. Others had gone…
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KC the Humpback and Others Return

Cover Image: A Sea Otters couple cuddling off Cortez Reef Jos Krynen, Eagle Eye Adventures The number of Transient Biggs Orca in our inside waters remains high with a number of family pods still joining up in their travels, play and feeding.We’re pleased to say that our well known “local” Humpback BCY 0291, know as…
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Transient Bigg’s Orca Mixing It Up

Cover Image: Transient Bigg’s Killer Whales, T002Cs, heading south at the Penn Islands Garry Henkel, Aboriginal Journeys Whale and Grizzly Bear Tours A number of Transient Bigg’s Orca pods have been mixing it up. Spring is in the air and many family pods get together to mix up the gene pool as well as cooperatively…
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Sunshine Coast Grey Whale, Humpbacks Returning and More

Cover Image: Gray Whale milling about around Roberts Creek and Davis Bay Geordie Harrower, Sechelt, BC Every year we are seeing a greater variety and number of ‘regular’ visitors in our inside waters. A grey Whale has once again claimed the area off Davis Bay and Roberts Creek area to feed. They are a treat…
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Whale Activity Picking Up

Transient Bigg’s Orca have been seen spreading out as have their food sources such as sea lions. Although we usually have the T002Cs around the Lund and Okeover Inlet area, another family pod the T023s seem to have taken over the area for now. Others, not all individually identified and could even be a few…
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Unusual Activity in Our Inside Waters

With Gray Whales, Humpbacks and even Fin Whales being seen on the west coast of Vancouver Island, our inside waters are starting to see some activity which has not been seen in many years. The Sperm Whale, first spotted in Blackfish Sound, managed to sneak down Georgia Strait and was spotted around Nanaimo, third hand…
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Gray Whale Migration and Plenty of Bigg’s Hunting

Transient Bigg’s were spending a lot of time hunting sea lions by Comox and Hornby Island during the herring fishery with some others on the hunt on the West Coast of Vancouver Island where the Grey Whales have made there way back into our coastal waters in numbers. Grey (or Gray) Whales most frequently travel…
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Larger Gathering of Biggs Orca Roaming About and A42s Reappeared

A few of the Transient Bigg’s Orca that had moved out a while ago seem to have gathered together. The family pods called, T002Cs, T086As, T077s, T101s and the lone T087 were all seen passing Powell River. With the sea lions grouped up to feed by the herring fishery on the Vancouver Island side of…
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Sperm Whale, Orca, Dolphins and Humpback Whales

A WOW moment to hear that a Sperm Whale in our inner waters again, and below the top of Vancouver Island! Dept. of Fisheries confirmed the sighting of this lone whale foraging in the Blackfish Sound area for about a week. The last DFO sighting recorded was in 1984. Sperm Whales are extremely deep divers…
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Northern Resident Orca A42s Tour the Sunshine Coast

The Northern Resident Killer Whales of the family pod known as the A42’s have been spending a lot of time on the move between the Gibsons area along the Sunshine Coast of BC to Powell River, then back again. That’s over 100 km in a day! They even spent some time rubbing on one of…
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