We were thrilled to depart today with our full fleet off the dock and almost no wind! When winds are light like this morning the big bushy blows of the humpbacks tend to linger making them easy to spot! It also makes it easier to spot them when they are active as big splashes are visible far in the distance. Today was one of those days we affectionately call whale soup, they were all around us. It is such a treat when you do not know where to look!

Our semi-covered spotted a blow, we slowed down to watch our first whale who was fairly elusive…you may say incognito! We had an identification after snapping a few photos of their dorsal fin and tail! It was Incognito (BCX2053) who received their name due to them being a bit shy and having indistinct features. Incognito was up to their usual behaviour, ignoring us and most likely feeding! Most of our whales do just that ignore us, and that is exactly what we want to see, them in their natural environment displaying their natural behaviors. After spending some time with Incognito we could see more blows and splashing in the distance, so we went to check it out! This next whale was Graphite (BCX2077), a whale that we see often, Graphite does not always ignore us. This is a rare occurrence that we call mugging when a humpback approaches closer than the 100-meter distance, we will shut off our engines and float around until the whale moves off to a safe distance for us to start back up. All three of our boats floated around with Graphite as he inspected us closely, very special when a gentile giant says hello! We have a theory that they may find us cute. Studies have been done with elephants and when they see humans they have the same reactions in their brains as us humans have when they see tiny puppies and kittens! Of course, this is all speculation, but we like to think they think we are adorable! After this amazing encounter with Graphite, we moved on to check on more distant blows! This time it was a pair of humpbacks, Split Fluke (BCX1068) and Crater (BCX1565). These two were identified quickly due to distinct features! Split Fluke has a split on the left side of their fluke, this can be spotted easily just with our eyes even from quite far away. Crater does not often lift their tail, but that is not where their distinct feature lies, their dorsal is what we use for their ID. Also, where Craters’ name is derived from, it looks like a crater!

After watching these two associating and most likely feeding we were off to meet more members of the Salish Sea. We got to see Harbour Seals and their fuzzy pups sunning on the rocks. Their big cousins the Steller Sea Lions were just around the corner fighting over the best spot on the rocks. Here we saw the largest Heron in North America, the Great Blue Heron fishing for some lunch (check out the photos below to see if they were successful)! From there we made a stop at the Gabriola Bluffs where we got to see more babies! The Cormorants and the Gulls had some chicks in their nests today!

Photos taken by Marine Naturalists Lucy Willis, Hayleigh Hilbert and Vanessa Vereschahen.