Oct 2nd - Valiant and CRC-16447

With no reports so far in the day we left the harbour and headed into the strait of Georgia where we found 2 humpbacks travelling together, Valiant and CRC-16447 (who doesn’t have a fun nickname yet). These two humpbacks were doing feeding dives while circling around a small area right off of Gabriola Island.

The humpback whales in the area are here for this very reason, to eat! They come north in the spring to their feeding grounds where they spend the summer building up their fat reserves. In the fall they will make the journey back down to either Hawaii or Mexico where they will have their calves, breed, and generally hangout. We know through crossmatching fluke photos that CRC-16447 spends their winters down in Hawaii and Valiant is part of the population that goes to Mexico.

Enjoy some of the photos captured by our naturalists onboard!

Valiant going down for a dive. Photo by Natalie Reichenbacher.

CRC-16447 also diving for some food! Photo by Natalie Reichenbacher.

CRC-16447 in the background coming up for a breath while Valiant goes down for a dive in the foreground. Photo by Natalie Reichenbacher.

Some cute little harbour seals resting on a rock. Photo by Natalie Reichenbacher.

A less common sighting on whale watching trips, deer! These little guys were found in the flat top islands just south of Gabriola Island. Photo by Natalie Reichenbacher.

There was also a buck there! Photo by Natalie Reichenbacher.

A very lazy sea lion hanging out on a log boom. Photo by Natalie Reichenbacher.