August 13th - Active humpbacks putting on a show off Lantzville!

Happy Birthday to one of our Naturalists, Rodrigo! Today, the humpbacks in the waters of Lantzville must have caught the memo and put on a special show for him and the guests on board our morning tour in the open vessel.

Cascadia set off from the dock in Nanaimo harbour and had its sights set on the waters north of Nanaimo. We've been seeing a lot of humpbacks there lately and with early morning shore reports we've had some great success in finding them. The seas were a little choppy out here, but with 2 active humpbacks, it was hard not to spot them in the water.

Showing off the fluke going for a deep dive! Photo by Rodrigo Menezes.

Our guests watched as the humpbacks travelled around the Winchelsea Islands before breaching and engaging in some pec slaps on the surface of the water. It's always so exciting to see the pectoral slaps and breaching, you can really get a good sense of how large these animals are.

Pec fin slipping back into the water. Photo by Rodrigo Menezes. 

Did you know the pectoral fins on a humpback are the longest pectoral fins in relation to size of any other marine mammal? It's one of the distinguishing features that gave humpbacks their latin name, Megaptera novaeangliae, which translates to "big winged New Englander" since they were first reported in the waters just off of England. These pectoral fins can be as long as 1/3 of the entire body length, and with an average body length 16 m (males) and 17 m (females), those are some lengthy pectorals fins! The fins are primarily used for stabilization and rudders as the tail (or caudal) fin is used for propulsion.

Photo by Rodrigo Menezes. 

Fluke wave! Photo by Rodrigo Menezes.