September 2, 2025, 3:30 PM - It’s a Party in the Salish Sea!

When you join us for a trip, we always mention how all our whales are wild and how we never know where they will be or what they will be up to. Typically, orca and humpbacks in our area are busy travelling along and potentially hunting. But every once in a while, they’ll change it up, and we will see them being ‘social butterflies’ with each other, like we did today!

Pushing off the dock, we started the day’s adventure. Our two open vessels, Cascadia and Keta, split up, travelling in slightly different directions to maximize our coverage and increase our spotting success. After a bit of searching and cruising around north of Gabriola Island, we spotted what we had been searching for: several black ‘triangles’ slicing through the water, with big blows puffing up into the air. Once we approached, we realized we were travelling with a “T-party”, or a gathering of multiple Transient orca pods travelling together!

Pulling their cameras out, the naturalists began snapping away, capturing photos of all the little (and not-so-little) fins as they dove, travelled, and even breached! After comparing these photos to our ID catalogue, we confirmed the following whales were present:

T065 Whidbey II ♀ (~1971)
T063 Chainsaw ♂ (~1978)

T065A5 Indy ♂ (2014)

T069E Kodiak ♂ (2004)

T075B Pebbles ♀ (1995)
T075B2 Jasper ♂ (2015)
T075B3 Rubble ♂ (2017)
T075B4 Petra ♀ (2021)
T075B5 ♀ (2025)

T100 Hutchins ♀ (~1979)
T100C Laurel ♂ (2002)
T100F Estrella (2004)

T124D Field ♀ (1996)
T124D1 Salish II (2014)
T124D3 Lupine ♀ (2022)
T124D4 Dune (2024)

T-parties are very important events for young orca, as they allow them to meet other whales, plus it is a chance to play with other whales of similar ages to them. With four whales present under the age of 5, there were many times when the young ones were spotted diving and rubbing against other pod members. As a very tactile species, orca communicate not only with sounds but also with touch. T100 Hutchins, one of the eldest matriarchs present, seemed extra excited, as she was spotted fully breaching out of the water. Documented at an incredible 20ft long during a photogammery study in 2020, Hutchins is by no means a ‘small’ whale.

Breaching is one of those curious behaviours we are often asked about on tours, with questions such as “Will they breach today?” or “Why do they breach?”. The true answer is this behaviour is predicably unpredictable, and we never truly know when they will ‘take to the skies’! Breaching is an interesting behaviour that has multiple speculated causes, including:

Communication: When something as large as a whale breaks the surface of the water and then slaps back down against the surface, a giant sound wave is created that travels vast distances through the water. This behaviour could be used to communicate a multitude of different messages, such as “There is danger over here!” or “We caught a big meal!”, or could be used by matriarchs to call their individual family members back to them.
Parasite Removal: The impact from breaching could be used to remove various itchy parasites from their skin. Think of it as a spa day, but for whales!
Play: As highly intelligent and social animals, orca likely sometimes just play around for the fun of it. Breaching could be a part of this play, especially when multiple young whales are socializing together.

When you look at the list of orca identified, you may notice there are two odd whales in the mix: T065A5 Indy and T069E Kodiak, both males travelling away from their natal pods. Typically, orca are huge “momma’s boys” and like to stay by their mother’s side for their entire lives. Indy is a bit of an outlier, though, as he has been travelling solo for several years. Kodiak, on the other hand, was a surprise to see. He was travelling with his pod near the end of August, but appears to be living the bachelor life now. He may have broken away from his pod temporarily in search of mating opportunities, and may meet back up with his mother and siblings in the future - only time (and future encounters) will tell!

After departing the orca party, Keta and Cascadia split up in search of Humpbacks. This search proved fruitful, so much so that they each found a humpback of their own to travel with! Once in position, the naturalists began working on identifying who they were travelling with. Keta’s individual was highly cooperative, and ended up fluking nice and high, leading to a perfect shot to ID them. This whale was Orion (BCX1251), a known regular to the area. Cascadia’s whale was being a bit less cooperative, not fluking at great angles. However, their dorsal fin (the fin on top of their back) was a highly unique shape with multiple unique markings on it, which we were able to use to confirm their ID. This little one was Slice (BCX2487), the 2021 calf of Divot (BCX1057), and the grandson of legendary humpback Big Momma (BCY0324). Slice is an amazing example of how important a single whale is, as he is one of Big Momma’s 20 known descendants!

Now you would think after all that excitement, we couldn’t possibly have anything else amazing happen… well, think again! Just off of Gabriola Island, Keta found even more orca - this time it was the T002Cs!

T002C Tasu ♀ (1989)
T002C1 Rocky ♂ (2002)
T002C3 Lucy ♀ (2011)
T002C5 Zippy (2020)
T002C6 (2025)

The T002Cs were porpoising along, travelling very fast towards the T-party we had left earlier. While we did not stay long, Marine Naturalist Hayleigh captured some adorable photos of the T002Cs racing along, with their tiny new calf in tow - check those out below!

Besides our whales, our vessels also located pinnipeds to peek at, too! Cascadia found Harbour Seals and Steller Sea Lions hauled out at Stinky Rocks, a series of small rocky islets that are a perfect place for pinnipeds to snooze. However, the tide was very high today, forcing them to balance at the very tip of the rocks so as not to be submerged. Keta headed over to the Halibut Bank ODAS (Ocean Data Acquisition System) buoy, where a small colony of Steller Sea Lions were using each other as pillows. ODAS buoys are essential tools for mariners as they relay valuable information such as wave heights and wind speeds, which help individuals traversing the ocean to do so safely. They also make the perfect napping pad for the sea lions, as these buoys remain at the surface of the ocean at all times, no matter the tides, unlike Stinky Rocks.

Heading back to Nanaimo, we wrapped up an incredible time out on the water, featuring not only a double species day, but also some ‘flying’ orca as well!

Please enjoy these photos taken by Marine Naturalists Hayleigh Hilbert and Aly Kohlman.

T069E Kodiak. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.

T063 Chainsaw looking round and scarred up. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.

T069E Kodiak with T063 Chainsaw in front of him. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.

A young orca tail slapping amongst the party members. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.

T100 Hutchins breaching. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.

Perfect form from this perfect matriarch! Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.

T075B2 Jasper breaching with T124D Field going dwn for a dive. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.

T124D Field spyhopping. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

T075B2 Jasper and T075B5. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

T063 Chainsaw and his mother T065 Whidbey II. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Coming in for a landing! Photo by Aly Kohlman.

An excited little tail slap from T075B4 Petra with T075B Pebbles beside them. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

All travelling along, together! Photo by Aly Kohlman.

T075B Pebbles with one of the young whales doing a headstand beside them. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

T100C Laurel and T063 Chainsaw. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Breaking the surface! Photo by Aly Kohlman.

T002C Tasu with her youngest calf T0026C6. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.

Left to right: T002C5 Zippy, T002C6, and T002C Tasu. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.

Tiny little T002C6. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.

T002C1 Rocky. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.

Orion’s fluke. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.

Slice’s dorsal fin. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Slice beautifully backlit in the setting sun. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

A little ‘wave’ from a Harbour Seal. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

At high tide, Stinky Rocks becomes very crowded. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

A Steller Sea Lion relaxing in the shallows. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Curious Steller Sea Lions watching us from the ODAS buoy. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.

Author: Cheyenne BrewsterSeptember 2, 2025WhalesComment