We eagerly pushed off the dock with our eyes peeled and started searching the Salish Sea for our big friends! None of our whales are tagged, chipped or tracked so we find them each day with just our eyes! We do a few things when searching to increase the chance of spotting a whale.

The Humpbacks let out a big bushy blow that towers above the water's surface. Although this blow is large and looks like smoke, it is the easiest to spot these blows against the darker horizon, we scan the horizon constantly. The Humpbacks’ tail is about 20 feet across so if we miss the blow sometimes this large tail rises out of the water before the Humpback dives, called fluking. We can sometimes find them this way as well! If they are active and displaying multiple behaviours such as tail slapping, tail lobbing, cartwheeling, chin slapping, pec slapping or breaching the big splashes usually tip us off! On this tour, one boat spotted a blow, while the other spotted splashes. The blow was spotted not too far from home along the shores of Valdes Island.

Who was it? Our onboard Naturalist with a camera in hand got ready to take some photos of the dorsal fin and tail, they are unique to each whale and this is how we identify them. This tail belonged to BCY0770 Snoopy also known as Lunar or Gibbous. Snoopy migrates to Hawaii each year and is documented in their waters also, this is how Snoopy got multiple nicknames! Snoopy was most likely feeding when we spotted them, as Snoopy has just made a long journey and on top of that would have been fasting for 3 to 6 months! Each humpback needs to eat anywhere from 3000 - 5000 pounds of food per day. This is so Snoopy can build up fat reserves for the migration back to Hawaii at the end of summer/fall. The other humpbacks we saw today were spotted by their splashing, these two splashing up a storm were BCX1416 calf 2022 and BCY0324 calf 2022 Moresby. Two young whales were both born in 2022, maybe that explains their energy! These two were having fun today, or it sure seemed like it. Less focused on feeding than Snoopy. Our best guess is they filled their bellies and had a bit of a celebration to burn off some calories. After their rambunctious display calmed we watched them having a little nap/rest. Just like us humans, we eat a big meal and then grab a little shut-eye!

After spending time with the whales, we continued on our way to see what else would be in store for us along our journey. After some searching, we were able to find some River Otters playing along the Valdes Island shoreline. They were along the same spot where the Seals and Sea Lions typically spend time, a reef we have dubbed “Stinky Rocks”. It wasn’t just the River Otters that were there, but also a majestic Bald Eagle! Sharing these same rocks were the Steller Sea Lions today, just as Smelly and entertaining as ever. As we looked a little closer at the rocks closer to Valdes Island, we also spotted some of the adorable little Harbour seals! 4 species in one stop is pretty good!

Leaving Stinky behind, we had one final stop at the Gabriola Bluffs, getting to see the Bald Eagle nest and the nesting cormorants. Overall a great day out on the Salish Sea!

Please enjoy the photos below taken by Marine Naturalists Desarae Poier, Lucy Willis and Aly Kohlman.