Marine fact of the week

Marine fact of the week

For this #marinefactoftheweek, we continue our memory of the legendary “Whale Guru”, Ron Bates. As we reflect on his amazing personality and many wonderful character qualities, many people bring forward his charisma and sense of humour.

Pictured below are some harbour seals. Of course, Ron loved all marine life but he had a special nickname for these creatures which will always make us giggle! It is an example of how Ron always kept the Five Star crew and guests happy and smiling.

What did Ron love to call harbour seals?

Rock sausages!

Many of our marine naturalists have borrowed this term from Ron. This term is especially fitting when you consider that harbour seals are a favourite snack for Bigg’s orcas. In fact. Ron himself recorded two young adult male Bigg’s orcas (T14, T31) consume 30 seal pups in less than an hour in the Chain Islets off of Oak Bay.

Ron had an amazing way of collecting concrete knowledge , data and evidence from the environment, but always had a light-hearted side to his serious side. This is something we loved so dearly about Ron and we will miss him greatly. His positive impact on the ecology of the Salish Sea will never be forgotten.