Elle | M/V Osprey | 8/14/2022 | 12:30 PM and 5:30 PM
Today on Osprey, we spent the day with two families of Bigg's killer whales; the T099 family and the T036 family. This was a group of ten whales, including a calf born in 2021 which still had a pinkish tinge to its eye patches (the normally white spots on the side of the whale, right behind their eyes). These whales were formerly known as transient, and each individual is given an identifying set of numbers and letters, such as T (for transient) 99A. When more than one family of Bigg's comes together, we call it a "T-party." Typically, we see Bigg’s killer whales in groups of 4-6 so to see such a big group today was a treat.
When we first encountered these whales for the day, between Orcas Island and Lopez Island, the two families were socializing and playing together. They splashed around, showed us a few fins, and some of the younger males in the group even displayed mating behaviors. The rest of our trip was spent circumnavigating Lopez Island, and we wrapped up our trip with a Steller’s sea lion encounter
On our sunset cruise, we watched this “T-party” continue north through Rosario Strait towards Boundary Pass and the Strait of Georgia. We were the last boat with these whales, so we got some really special moments with them as they swam into the sunset. This trip did a complete circumnavigation of Orcas Island and as we rounded the northern end back towards Friday Harbor, we got some great looks at a group of harbor seals hauled out on the rocks, and a majestic bald eagle perched on a tree.