May 16th - A humpback whale and a T-party!

It was a beautiful sunny Sunday, it almost felt like summer, when our passengers donned anti-exposure suits and departed at noon on our vessel Cascadia. They headed north and searched for whales for a full hour and half before they spotted a blow off in the distance. It was a humpback whale! This humpback whale was very elusive, however, and only surfaced once before it disappeared into the deep and we couldn’t find it again. Sometimes that’s the way it goes!

The crew and passengers were determined to find more whales and followed a report of orca around Lasqueti Island. It took a little while, but eventually a large group of Bigg’s killer whales was located and boy, was it worth the wait!

Harbour seals - Bigg’s orca’s main prey source

Whales, whales everywhere! Cascadia had come across what we call a “T-Party”, which is when multiple pods of Bigg’s/transient orca join together and socialize. Typically killer whales will travel in their family pod which is led by the oldest female, the matriarch, and followed by her offspring and their offspring. However, killer whales are incredibly social animals and will often join up with other pods to mate, socialize and hunt. It’s always a good day when we catch a large a group like this socializing!

Stanley the whale

In the mix were the T123’s, who we’ve been seeing a lot of lately, as well as the T023’s, T023C’s, T65B’s and possibly others. T123A, “Stanley” is one of the most exciting and obvious to watch because he towers in size over the others. He was quite active with lots of inverted tail slaps! Our photographer was also quick to snag some breach shots! A breach is when the animal propels itself completely out of the water and you can see the full body in the air. We never know when or why a whale is going to breach, but it is certainly a highlight when they do!

Here are some of the photos taken by Cheyenne on this exciting tour. If you want to join us for an adventure we have tours leaving daily at 12pm. If you’ve already been out with us and want to come again, remember you get 15% off as a returning guest!

Stanley with some seaweed wrapped across his fin.

Play time!