'Majestic' pod of playful orcas captivate Gulf Islands residents as reported sightings on the rise

A British Columbia man who almost skippedhis usual walk was rewarded with a "majestic" spectacle when he spotted a pod of frolicking orca whales off the coast of Galiano Island on Tuesday.

Douglas Thistle-Walker says he walks the 45-minute loop through Bluffs Park on Galiano's southern tip almost daily, but after a particularly difficult week, he had to talk himself into going that afternoon.

Now he's glad he did.

"I just happened to hear the sound of the whales and I was just in the great viewpoint of being able to see them putting on that show," he told CBC News from his home on the Southern Gulf Island, about 60 kilometres southwest of Vancouver.

WATCH | Killer whalesput on a show near southern tip of Galiano Island:

Playful orcas caught on camera near Bluffs Park in B.C.

9 months ago

Duration 0:58

Douglas Thistle-Walker was out for a walk on Galiano Island when he spotted a pod of orcas breaching.

A group of at least six killer whales were romping in the water below, breaching jumping into the air from the water and some even slapping their tails on the waves.

"They were clearly having some fun," said Thistle-Walker. "I've seen like one or two of them breaching like that, but never a pod going off like that. So it was really special."

Thistle-Walker began recording the killer whales, and the non-profit Salish Sea Orca Squad later posted the video to its Instagram account, where many of his neighbours and fellow whale-lovers were floored.

"I was just fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time, so I'm pretty happy to be able to share it with everyone," he said.

"It's quite an incredible experience."

'Amazing' to see large pod breaching together

Seeing such a large group breaching together is "amazing" and "not common" said Ivan Ng, who edits the sighting reports put out by the B.C.-based non-profit Wild Ocean Whale Society (WOWS).

"It looks very much like playful behaviour," said Ng.

Thistle-Walker's sighting follows reports of an uptick in the number of West Coast transient killer whales spotted in the Salish Sea, according to WOWS and the Washington-based Orca Behaviour Institute (OBI).

In recent years, between 220 and 250 inner-coastal transient killer whales have been documented visiting the Salish Sea, of approximately 370 total, the OBI said in a Wednesday Facebook post.

But 250 transient orcas had already been documented by the end of October this year, and the OBI says it remains to be seen how many more will visit before the end of the year.

No one from the OBI was available for an interview before publication.

Attracted to feeding grounds

Ng says WOWS has observed an increased number of reported whale sightings, but does not track the year-to-year data for killer whales specifically.

While the population of about 70 southern resident killer whales in the Salish Sea is in decline, transient whales visit from coastal waters as far as California and Mexico, according to Ng.

He says the increase in sightings could signal transient whales are having to look further for the sea lions and harbour seals they eat, and efforts to reduce pollution and protect marine mammals mean healthier waters that allow transient orcas' prey to flourish.

"California sea lions and harbour seals used to be hunted commercially, and so now they're not being hunted, their population is increasing," said Ng. "That attracts the transient orca into the waters."

Ng says it's not possible to tell whether the whales in Thistle-Walker's video were resident or transient from such a distance, but it would be even more "unusual" if they turned out to be transient, because those whales tend to travel in smaller pods under six.

Thistle-Walker says it is certainly his best whale sighting so far, and the experience also taught him an important lesson.

"It's always worth going for a walk."