Family left in ‘disbelief’ when massive creatures put on ‘magnificent show’ in Canada
Thea Layne and her father spent their summer whale watching on Vancouver Island off the Pacific Coast of Canada.
The father-daughter duo has had several encounters with small pods of orcas off the coast all summer, thanks to a local land-based whale watching group chat on Facebook, Layne told McClatchy News.
“Our first encounter was in Cowichan Bay, BC and there were 6 orcas,” Layne wrote in a Facebook message. “But the other encounters were 2-3 orcas.”
When Layne checked the group message in the early morning on Aug. 27, she was bummed to see that she had missed a message alerting group members to a whale sighting off Mill Bay Beach. The creatures were heading into the Saanich Inlet — which meant Layne might have another chance to spot them.
“I knew that once the whales got down to the end of the inlet, they would have to come back,” Layne told McClatchy News. “I watched the chat and also Marine Tracker, a live boat tracking website, to see when the whale watching boats were coming back towards Mill Bay.”
Around 4:30 p.m., the whales were heading back, so Layne, her dad and her brother hopped in the car and rushed to the beach. They got there just in time to witness a huge pod of orcas crossing in front of the beach, according to Layne.
“They crossed in front of the whole length of Mill Bay Beach, so close to us on land! To our surprise there were 18 killer whales,” she said.
Multiple pods of killer whales had joined together to create a hunting group, known as a T-party, Layne said. The creatures put on a show for people watching at the beach, including tail slaps, thrashing, breaching, diving and group swimming.
“My dad, brother and I were in disbelief that [we] were seeing. . . a magnificent show,” Layne said. “The beach was lined with vehicles who had pulled over and there were tons of spectators for these orcas! Truly one of the best encounters we have ever had.”
Videos show the huge sea creatures moving through the water together, jumping and slapping their tails.
“It’s like a core memory,” Layne says in the background of one of her videos.
Mill Bay Beach is about 50 miles southwest of Vancouver on Vancouver Island.
This story was originally published September 12, 2023 at 10:44 AM with the headline "Family left in ‘disbelief’ when massive creatures put on ‘magnificent show’ in Canada."
