July 22nd 3:30 - HUGE T-party off the Sunshine Coast and a sleepy humpback

Our vessel Cascadia set off the dock from Nanaimo at 3:30 and headed out into the Salish Sea for an adventure! After searching for awhile we found a humpback and a little while after that we encountered a HUGE group of orca near the Sunshine Coast!

We also saw a sleepy humpback whale who was on its own feeding just outside Porlier Pass. Humpback whales are filter feeders and sometimes need to dive deep down into the water column to attain their prey. We waited patiently as this animal fed underneath us, and then we were treated to some giant whale blows and a magnificent fluke being lifted out of the water before it dove again! We left this whale and continued our search for more wildlife.

We got really lucky on this tour and saw what we call a T-Party - multiple transient pods traveling and socializing together! There were about 20 killer whales in this party when we arrived and it was so special to see them all interact with each other. Yes you read that right, TWENTY killer whales! It’s hard to get IDs on so many whales but we were able to identify the T37As and the T65As, and we know that more were there.

Typically Bigg’s/transient killer whales travel in small to medium sized pods of 1-7, made up of their immediate family group. The mother of the pod is the matriarch and she is in charge of raising all of her offspring and deciding where they’ll travel to and what to hunt. We don’t know who the dads are, in orca world it’s the females who raise the young! Sometimes Grandma will be around and we can see multiple generations of orca traveling and hunting together.

We got to watch them travel in a group as well as demonstrate many of the fun, social behaviours that helped make orcas so famous. We saw tail slaps, barrel rolls, and the much coveted spyhop as well!

Please enjoy these photos taken by Marine Naturalist Rebeka Pirker. All photos were taken with a telephoto lens and cropped for social media. All Marine Mammal viewing regulations were followed.

It’s getting hot outside! Join us on a tour today to help beat the summer heat - it can be 5 to 10°C cooler out on the water! We have tours leaving the Nanaimo harbourfront daily at 10:30am and 3:30pm.