May 3rd - T-Party in the Strait!!

Wow - what a day. Our boat Cascadia left at 12 and went straight to a large group of orca that were traveling north in the Strait. This large group was made up of at least 6 different pods, 20+ animals!! When this many transient orca pods join together we call it a “T-Party”, and there ain’t no party like a T-party!

There was a nice mix of tall dorsal fins from the males, medium size from the adult females, and tiny fins from the juveniles. We spent about an hour watching these majestic animals travel and communicate with one another in perfect conditions. The pods that were identified were the T99s, T36Bs, T137s, T18s, T101s, T87, T124C, and the T36As. It’s not easy to identify this many whales but luckily there were a lot of photographers out there and there are a lot of enthusiastic naturalists in the industry!

On our way home we accidentally found more whales! Some of the T124As and the T124Ds were further north, heading south. This group was smaller but it did have a calf in it, which is of course always a crowd favourite. We watched as little T124D2, born in 2017, popped its head up next to mom T124D “Field”. Here are some of the best pictures taken during the tour by marine naturalist Val Watson.

Not too hot, not too cold - the perfect place for a rest!

THOSE WHISKERS! Sleeping beauties