Transient Orcas T49As meet T36As and T99s at Patos

4/18/17 – Woke up to hearing about orca whales at Orca’s Ferry Landing. Out of the door and cut the lines to meet them entering Spring Pass after passing through the narrow Pole Pass. T49A’s, a mom and her 3 offspring including T49A1 (a mature 16 yr old male). They had a mid morning snack after circling Jones Island before following the shoreline of Orcas Island via President’s Channel. After passing us at Pt Doughy we heard reports of T36A’s and T99’s at East Point, Saturna Island, BC. (6 miles to our northwest). The T49A’s appeared to be heading in that direction, however, they took the north side of Waldon Island for lunch. Drifting and eating came to an abrupt change at Sandy Pt with a fast course set for Patos Lighthouse (7 miles to the northeast) and the location of the T36A’s and T99’s. Their meeting was amazing. T49A1 full body tail slaps and cartwheels. Socialization and possibly shared eating of a sea lion predation from earlier continued for at least 2 hours at which point we had to leave and follow the sunset home. We deployed our hydrophone and the vocalizations were out of our ordinary reality. You can hear a 7 minute section on our FaceBook video.