Lauren Tschirhart | M/V Sea Lion | September 22nd, 2024 | 12:30pm
Captain Vaun and I were eager to start our tour today, with reports of a giant T-Party forming north of Mayne Island in the Strait of Georgia. The only problem… Would these whales stay in our range? We raced out of Friday Harbor and headed north into San Juan Channel. With no time for wildlife stops along the way, we headed right for Active Pass. After transiting over an hour and a half we finally made our way into the Strait of Georgia. As we started to see whale watch boats on the horizon, I told our guests we had finally made it and what was in store. We were in the midst of a HUGE killer whale gathering. We had members from 7 different matrilines all hanging out together, coming to a whopping total of 23 Bigg’s Killer Whales! We had members from the T035s, T036s, T036As, T038s, T065s, T065As and T137s! What a magnificent thing to witness. Most notably in the group was T063/Chainsaw a 46-year-old male killer whale with an iconic looking dorsal fin. Chainsaw has two huge notches on his dorsal fin, making him instantly recognizable! We stayed with these whales as they continued north, further into the Strait of Georgia. We got to witness some clear socializing, with a few whales splashing and rolling around each other. Normally when we encounter our marine mammal eating killer whales they are just traveling in their matrilines (mom and immediate offspring), so getting to see such a large group was breathtaking. We occasionally see these whales linking up together for mating and socialization, but seeing a group this large is a rarity. On our way home we saw several harbor seals swimming in a bait ball through Active Pass and then saw a large group of harbor porpoise while passing through Shingle Bay. It was a long tour, but I am so happy we made the trek.