After a whale filled morning our boat headed out for our afternoon trip eager to see who was around. Our whales from the morning had moved too far north for us to be able to relocate them, so we made our way to a sighting of Orca near the south east end of Texada.
When we arrived on scene we were happy to see some familiar fins, it was T124A4 Sabio and her daughter T124A4A traveling with Sabio’s sister, T124A2 Elkugu and her kids, Agafia and Litton.
These young matriarchs led their families north through the calm evening waters. Several times the groups split into their own family units, before returning to a single group.
We’ve traveled with both of these groups frequently over the last little while. Sabio has been apart from her own mother for some time now, getting the help of other experienced matriarchs to help her raise her new daughter. Normally Sabio would get help from her mom Kittiwake, however Kittiwake and Sabio had calves at almost the same time. Kittiwake likely has her own fins full with her little one, so Sabio has enlisted family friends and her sister to lend a hand. Elkugu has also been around with her kids, and even spent some time traveling with the rambunctious teenager Jude.
It was great to be able to see Sabio again and get the chance to check in on her new calf, who was recently confirmed to be a female!

Elkugu leading her son Agafia, sister Sabio and her new daughter. Photo by Rebeka Pirker

Elukgu sandwiched between her kids Agafia (left) and Litton (right). Photo By Rebeka Pirker.

T124A2A Agafia traveling in front of mom T24A4 Elkugu Photo by Rebeka Pirker.

T124A4 Elkugu can be easily ID’d by the scaring in her saddle patch. While some of the scars change and heal over time, she has 2 white scratches through the grey saddle. Can you see them in this photo?. Photo by Rebeka Pirker.

Sabio and neice Litton. Photo by Rebeka Pirker

Little miss Sonder. Photo by Rebeka Pirker

Elkugu and her sister Sabio. Photo by Rebeka Pirker

T124A4A, one of the newest little girls in the Salish Sea, following right behind mom Sabio. Photo by Rebeka Pirker

Elkugu leads the charge as her new niece follows close beside with Sabio and one of Elkugu’s kids follow behind. Photo By Rebeka Pirker.

9-year-old male T124A2A Agafia. Photo by Rebeka Pirker

T124A2B Litton (left) and aunt T124A4 Sabio (right). Photo by Rebeka Pirker

After leaving Sabio and Elkugu we headed back towards Vancouver Islands coastline, searching for humpbacks when we spotted a smaller blow, it was more orca! This pod was heading north towards Sangster Island, where there were plenty of seals resting in the rising tides. We thought for sure we would get to see a hunt, but the orca seemed more interested in scaring the seals, not eating them.
These 2 pods turned out to be one big family.
T034 Grace and T037 Rocky III are matriarchs of their own pods who normally travel separately, though they can be found just as often traveling together. This is likely because Rocky III is actually Graces’ eldest daughter.
Transient orca travel in small family units that average 3-6 individuals. When young females begin having their calves it’s their mom who helps them raise them. After the new mom is confident in their ability to lead a pod they separate from their mom and raise their family on their own. Much like humans, however, mom is never too busy to help out. Orca are often seen returning to their moms much later in life, whether it’s for a few hours of socializing or several days of traveling and hunting together. Family bonds are incredibly important to orca and as long as they can find enough food for everyone, big families will stick together for quite some time.
Rocky spends a lot of time with her mom Grace and her sisters Pachamama and Sonder, along with her own daughter Harold and grandson Lance.

Grace and Rocky took their families up next to Sangster Island, scaring the seals all along the shore before splitting off and making their way towards Old House Bay on the south side of Lasqueti Island. Grace and Rocky were side by side for most of the evening, clearly, these girls had much to catch up on. Grace is believed to be at least 53 years old and has likely gone through menopause and will no longer produce any more calves. She’s firmly into “grandma” territory and for the rest of her days, her job is to continue to raise her daughters and help raise any grandkids or great-grandkids.

It’s always amazing when we get to see 4 generations of whales together like this.
We had a great time with our whales this evening and got some amazing photos of our whales and wildlife.

July 9th 3:30 PM - 2 different families of Orca in the Salish Sea

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