August 10th - Humpbacks still making a big splash on our tours!
On Friday out boats headed out of the harbour in search of the horde of humpbacks that have been hanging around Nanaimo lately and after only a few minutes out on the water we were excited to see the tell-tale cloud of mist in the air that comes from a humpbacks blow!
Check out the blow! one comes up to breathe while the other takes a dive. Photo by Rodrigo Menezes.
We followed that blow over to find two humpbacks travelling together, Yogi and Graze. Yogi is a common visiter to the Salish sea and has been sighted since 2005 whereas Graze is a less commonly seen one, and is only 13 years old!
The fluke of Yogi, the scar on the left is an easily distinguishable feature. Photo by Rodrigo Menezes.
Fluke shot of Graze. Take a look at those marks on it. Photo by Rodrigo Menezes.
Graze gets their name from the rake marks that are covering their fluke. Thee rake marks show that graze is a survivor! Those marks come from the teeth of Killer Whales who grab onto the tail of humpback calfs and attempt to drown them. Mothers will often fight off these attacks from the pods of orca, using their large fins as weapons to hit the other whales. His mother, BCY0057 aka Niagra, must have been successful and thats why we are seeing him today.
Cartwheel! Check out that splash! Photo by Rodrigo Menezes.
These two were active at the surface with plenty of pec slaps and tail slaps.
These amazing pectoral fins are 1/3 the body length of this animal! wow! Photo by Rodrigo Menezes.
In the afternoon we set off to find these whales again and had some success! When we were watching them again we were very surprised to find another group of two travelling together that happened to cross our path, Heather (BCY0160) and Raptor (BCY0660).
A big fluke from Heather. Photo by Val Watson.
It was an amazing time watching all these animals in their natural habitat and being able to witness some of the extreme power that they have. If you want to experience this for yourself book a tour with us before all these humpbacks migrate away!
Photo by Val Watson
Yogi showing off his right side. Photo by Rodrigo Menezes.
A little synchronized swimming by Yogi and Graze. Photo by Rodrigo Menezes.