Five transient killer whales were spotted swimming near the Delta Hotel on Friday morning, heading toward the Johnson Street Bridge and stopping boats and seaplanes.
Boats and seaplanes stopped on Friday morning as five minke whales entered the inner harbor, most likely in search of prey.
Around 10 a.m., bystanders saw the group swimming in the Inner Harbor toward the Harbor Air Terminal before heading into the waters near the Delta Hotel and finally toward the Johnson Street Bridge. However, the whales turned before they could pass underneath, but headed back out to sea.
They only spent about 30 minutes in the area, but according to Haley Olsen, marketing manager for Orca Spirit Adventures, time slows down when you’re whale watching.
“Even though we talk about whales all day, it’s still an amazing experience to see them right off the coast and right in the inner harbor,” she said, noting that crowds of onlookers formed near the Delta Hotel and Inn in Laurel Point.
“It’s amazing, it’s something people dream of seeing.”
The last time a killer whale was seen this close to the harbor was in August 2019, when a lone transient whale was spotted near Fisherman’s Wharf.
In 2018, a pod of at least four whales was seen in the harbor and spent about an hour in the area.
Jared Towers, director of Bay Cetology, a team of marine biologists and research technicians based in Alert Bay, said it’s not unusual to see whales from transient populations in coastal waters, where they often come to hunt mammals such as seals and sea lions .
“We have plenty of food for these whales,” he said. “If the food is here, they will learn to cope with these noises and disturbances.”
The killer whales spotted Friday morning were members of T124A, a maternal group seen up and down the coastline, from Alaska to Oregon and off the coast of British Columbia.
They have also been spotted in Vancouver Harbour, Towers said.
“When you have animals like this in busy waterways, there’s a risk to them,” he said. “With more boats in the water, there’s a greater chance of a ship collision or some kind of interaction like that.”
But on Friday morning, Olsen saw boats moving away from the whales, and Harbor Air suspended flights until the orcas left the area.
The airline said that if killer whales were spotted in port during a scheduled landing, the plane would make a “go-around”, circling outside the port until it was clear to land, using the extra fuel it had on board if necessary.
Towers was happy to hear that boats and floatplanes were giving the whales space, according to a Department of Fisheries and Oceans rule that vessel operators stay 400 meters from orcas in the coastal waters of southern British Columbia. Boaters should turn off sounders and engines if a whale approaches.
“The rules are there so we can co-exist,” Towers said. “The best we can do is be good neighbors.
ngrossman@timescolonist.com
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