August 3, 2023, 10:30 - The T party continues and the Humpbacks say Hello!

Remember our family reunion from August 1st? After disappearing up island for a day, the megapod decided to travel back down into our waters again! Today’s Orca include:

T002C Tasu (1989)
T002C1 Rocky (2002)
T002C3 Lucy (2011)
T002C5 (2020)

T034 Grace (≤1969)
T034A Pachamama (2007)
T034B Sonder (2017)

T065A5 Indy (2014)

T036 Flapjack (≤1970)
T036B Tattertip (1998)
T036B1 Bhotia (2009)
T036B2 Greenfelder (2013)
T036B3 Chip (2018)

T037 Rocky III (1979)
T037B Harald (1998)
T037B1 Lance (2012)
T037B3 (2022)

T137 Loon (~1984)
T137A Jack (2002)
T137B Tempest (2006)
T137D Wright (2012)

Although a couple families have decided to leave the earlier party, we still had a total of 16 animals travelling together. What an amazing experience to see this many whales at one time. We’ve been so fortunate, as this rarely happens to this extent. With this many animals, sometimes they can spread out over a long distance, and this is exactly what happened on this trip. After spending some time with our T-party, we decided to leave them to their travels and head out to the strait.

We had a great time with our Humpbacks! While there has been lots of animals in the area, today was a particularly busy day. We saw a total of 8 humpbacks this afternoon! The humpbacks we saw today include Europa (BCX0854), her 2023 calf, Beak (BCX1606), Divot (BCX1057), Geometry (BCZ0338), Split Fluke (BCX1068), Split Fin (BCZ0298), MMX0355, and one unknown. Many of these whales were hanging out together and associating pretty closely. We saw a little bit of activity out of these guys, with some pec slaps, and an occasional breach. Can you guess what area we were in? Surprise, surprise, it was Halibut Bank, an absolute hotspot of activity for us. As a result, we saw a lot of feeding dives from the humpbacks today. It was great to see so many animals congregating to feed!

Today’s photos were taken by Marine Naturalists Val Watson, Aly Kohlman, and Des Poier.

T002C1 Rocky beside his mother T002C Tasu and likely one of his younger siblings - look at that size difference! Photo by Val Watson.

T002C1 Rocky with some new scratches along his side. Photo by Val Watson.

T002C Tasu with one of the youngsters beside her. Photo by Val Watson.

T036 Flapjack with T065A5 Indy on her far right and a friend in the middle. Photo by Val Watson.

The elegant T137 Jack cruising along. Photo by Val Watson.

T002C1 Rocky all beat up. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Left to right: T002C3 Lucy, T137D Wright, T137 Loon, T034A Pachamama, T034B Sonder, and T065A5 Indy. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Left to right: T137A Jack, T002C3 Lucy, T137B Tempest, T137D Wright, and T065A5 Indy. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

T036B3 Chip beside his mother T036B Tattertip. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

T037 Rocky III/Pizzafin and her granddaughter T036B1 Bhotia. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Geometry (BCZ0338) fluking - look at that gorgeous tail! Photo by Val Watson.

Geometry (BCZ0338)’s side appears to have some new scarring. Photo by Val Watson.

A duo of humpbacks travelling pec-to-pec. Photo by Val Watson.

Geometry (BCZ0338)’s fabulous fluke, adorned with barnacles. Photo by Val Watson.

Time to dive! Photo by Val Watson.

MMX0355. Photo by Val Watson.

Humpback nostrils are kind of weird looking, but it is always neat to see them during our trips! Photo by Val Watson.

Flukes up! Photo by Val Watson.

Europa (BCX0854) fluking. Photo by Val Watson.

Talk about texture! Humpback skin is always really lumpy and bumpy. Photo by Val Watson.

Split Fin (BCZ0298)’s distinct dorsal. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Surprisingly this is only a fraction of a humpback’s body - there’s still a ton of whale below the surface still! Photo by Val Watson.

Beak/Nuage (BCX1606) with some retracted barnacles. Photo by Val Watson.

Beak/Nuage (BCX1606) sporting some new scratches. Photo by Val Watson.

Split Fin (BCZ0298)’s gorgeous fluke pattern. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Divot (BCX1057) with her distinct notch. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Breach for the sky! Photo by Des Poier.

Curious Harbour seals lounging on the rocks. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Someone had a successful fishing trip! Photo by Aly Kohlman.

What a catch! Photo by Aly Kohlman.

A Bald Eagle landing with a big chunky fish. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

How many different species can you ID in this photo? Photo by Val Watson.