Texada Island resident Rodger Hort witnessed and photographed what he believed to be a pod of dolphins swimming in Van Anda Cove, near Van Anda Public Dock, located south of Sturt Bay on Texada Island (qathet Regional District Area D), on Thursday, October 5.
Hort said in an email to the Peak that he lives in Van Anda, overlooking the municipal wharf, and took the photos while standing on the wharf early Thursday morning.
“The dolphins were busy in the bay for more than six hours,” he said.
Hort indicated in the email that there has been an abundance of whale sightings (from Texada Island) throughout this summer.
Hort speculates that an abundance of krill may have been the reason for the dolphins to stick around for so long.
According to Hort’s post on a social media message board: “This small pod of white-sided dolphins started frolicking at about 5 am and kept us [Texada Island residents] all amused for over five-hours today.”
Hort said he spoke with folks down at the wharf, and they shared that “they had never seen this behaviour so close before.”
Hort said the dolphins he saw Thursday morning are the first ones he had seen this year.
According to an October 3, 2023, report by Ivan Ng, from Wild Ocean Whale Society (WOWs), on the website Whales and Dolphins BC: “A number of pods of Pacific white-sided dolphins were observed during the past couple of weeks[ in the qathet region]. Two of the pods were quite large, numbering around 100 individuals per pod.”
Ng, in the report, indicated that these types of dolphins can jump three to four metres out of the water and can often be seen doing high-energy activities. Residents in the qathet region can report any cetacean sightings to WOWs anytime of the year.
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