July 27th - Humpbacks for days!

During our morning tour we adventured out into the Strait of Georgia to find an elusive humpback. We located BCX0870 - ‘Scoop’ cutting through the chop, heading North-East towards the Mainland. Scoop was performing some deep dives as she travelled. We identify humpbacks based off of pictures of the underside of their fluke (tail). Our humpbacks are split into 3 separate categories, depending on how much white is present on the fluke’s underside:

X Whales: Less than 20% of the fluke’s underside is white.

Y Whales: 20-80% of the fluke’s underside is white.

Z Whales: Over 80% of the fluke’s underside is white.

Scoop is a X whale, meaning most of the underside of the fluke is black. Slate, who was spotted on our afternoon trip, also is a X whale.

In the afternoon we visited BCX1210 - ‘Slate’ and her calf who does not have a code yet. This pair travelled with us in the same direction that Scoop went in the morning. Slate and her calf gave us some great fluking action as they travelled into the sunset. Our humpbacks recently returned to the Salish Sea from their migration up from Mexico. During their migration, these beautiful creatures do not eat and solely rely on their body’s fat reserves to sustain them. Once they reach our beautiful coast they are quite famished and become very busy eating our plentiful food stocks.

Our humpbacks are a recovering population, so it is always great to see calves doing well with their mothers!

Slate and calf. Photo by Rebeka Pirker (3:30).

Fluke time! Photo by Rebeka Pirker (3:30).

Harbour seals lounging on the rocks. Photo by Rebeka Pirker (3:30).

Slate (left) and the nose of her calf (right). Photo by Rebeka Pirker (3:30).

Want to join us for your own whale adventure? Book with us today! To book on the phone please call us at 250-667-5177 or continue here on our website to book online! Happy travels!