October 14th - Slate and calf on Thanksgiving!

While everyone else was in a turkey coma, adventurers met at the whale watching office on the morning of October 14th. Cascadia departed at 12pm and headed into the Strait of Georgia to see what they could find.

Only half an hour went by before guests were watching a gorgeous mother and calf pair of humpback whales. They were traveling side by side and doing deep dives for most of the encounter, and we were lucky enough to snap photos of BOTH the mom and calf’s flukes!

Slate is a humpback that we’ve seen return to our waters for several years and got her nickname because of the slate coloured underside of her fluke. We saw Slate feeding on her own at the end of October last year; little did we know she was pregnant at the time! This spring Slate returned with a calf and we’ve been watching the calf grow all summer.

This trip was a special one because marine naturalist, Rebeka Pirker, managed to snag a photo of the calf’s fluke! This will help us to identify the calf if/when it returns to local waters on its own next season. Monitoring the growing population of humpback whales in the Salish Sea is really important because it will help us to protect them in the long run. Keta Coastal Conservation (www.ketacoastalconservation.org) is a local non-profit that conducts humpback research around areas such as Vancouver, Nanaimo, Victoria, Powell River, and the Gulf Islands. Check out their website to learn more!

Here are some of the best photos taken of these two beautiful whales by marine naturalist Rebeka Pirker.