September 11th - Humpbacks around Bowen Island!

On this day, Cascadia set off from the docks in the afternoon to bring our customers out for another exciting day of whale watching! We crossed the Straight of Georgia and headed towards Howe Sound and Vancouver. As we approached Bowen Island we could see some blows in the distance, a humpback was spotted!

Humpback on the right just beginning a surfacing, evident by the big blow in the air, while the humpback on the left is just finishing a surfacing! Photo by Rodrigo Menezes - 3:30 tour.

Adult humpbacks can have a blow that reaches 12 ft in height, so while their dorsal fin is quite small, their blows are hard to miss! The waters were flat calm which makes keeping an eye on the whale much easier in these conditions, but with the humpback engaging in some long dives we had to make sure to keep scanning because you never know where the humpback will surface again.

When going for a deep dive, the humpback arches its back even more! Photo by Rodrigo Menezes - 3:30 tour.

We had contact with two humpbacks here, one was identified as “Graze”, a BCY humpback with a primarily black fluke with some unique white markings and rake marks too. We followed the humpbacks travelling west as they slowly milled around.

Notice the white markings on the tips of the fluke? Photo by Rodrigo Menezes - 3:30 tour.

Water cascading off the fluke during a dive. Photo by Rodrigo Menezes - 3:30 tour.

On our way home we were lucky to see 4 harbour porpoises swimming alongside our vessel, just off of Gabriola Reefs where some noisy Steller Sea Lions haul out on the buoy.

You can see all the barnacles clumped together on the tips of the fluke. Photo by Rodrigo Menezes - 3:30 tour.

The weather may be cooling down but our sightings are still heating up! Lots of whales are in our seas still, book your trip before the seasons up!

Neat angle during a humpback fluking. Photo by Rodrigo Menezes - 3:30 tour.