On the afternoon of July 21st our open vessel Cascadia set out on the salish sea with hopes of finding some humpbacks or orcas. As we rounded Gabriola Island and passed Entrance Island we saw some splashing in the distance followed by some tall black dorsal fins. We found orcas! As we slowed and made our approach we thought they might be hunting based on the splashing but as we got closer we realized we'd stumbled on a T-party in progress! T-parties are always exciting because you have multiple pods of transient (Bigg’s) orcas hanging out. These parties can be social or hunting parties or a mixture. We were excited to see what was going on and figure out which whales we were with. Two of our naturalists onboard got busy taking photos to try and see who it was. We quickly identified T123A, Jack, a large and easy to spot male along with another pretty big, but still growing boy, Ooxjaa, T65A2. We also quickly identified T37A, Volker and all 5 of her offspring. There were at least 15 whales in this group, though it was hard to tell exact numbers because they were all moving so quickly with barrel rolling, splashing, and tail lobbing. This was a very active orca cuddle puddle!

It was hard to tell where one whale ended and another began. As we watched the whales with our boat shut down, we saw a blow off behind the orcas. It was a humpback! Normally if orcas are around humpbacks won't be because orcas will sometimes hunt humpbacks. None of us were expecting what happened next. The humpback dove and then reappeared right in the middle of the orcas! He started to trumpet, which is a loud noise humpbacks can sometimes make when they are excited or distressed. He disappeared again and showed up a few meters away from the orcas, swishing his tail, trumpeting and occasionally lifting his pecs out of the water. The orcas stopped socializing briefly, seeming to give chase to the humpback who started moving away, but the orcas quickly turned back to each other, appearing to prefer socializing amongst themselves.

The humpback then began to charge the orcas. Always rushing into the fray and darting away, almost like a game of tag. The orcas didn't seem too interested and mostly kept to themselves while this active humpback circled them. The humpback was identified as Olympus, a 3 year old humpback. As we watched in awe for an hour the humpback repeatedly charged the orcas, who would then chase him just far enough away that they could go back to interacting amongst themselves. This was an experience that none of our staff had ever witnessed before!

Can you spot the orca dorsal on the left and the humpbacks face on the right? Photo by naturalist Beka.

July 21st 3:30 - Humpback Vs Bigg’s killer whales!

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