We had great conditions on August 1st as both Keta and Cascadia left the dock at 1pm. The boats headed out into the Strait of Georgia where there was a slight breeze and lots of humpback whale action!

The first humpback whale we encountered showed us a beautiful fluke and we were able to identify it as MMY0149. We stayed with it awhile, watching it travel and going on deep dives. We continued on and ended up finding two more humpback whales!

Heather (BCY0160) the humpback whale has been returning to the Salish Sea every spring for at least 6 or 7 years and she is a staff favourite. Her fluke has a lovely white and dark grey pattern with a distinct “H” in the top left corner that lead to her name Heather.

We were incredibly happy to see her return again this year and this time with an exuberant calf! We watched the two off them swim together and mom showed off her fluke a few times to help us with her ID. The calf then decided to put on a show! We were treated to multiple breaches and pectoral slaps, both very high energy and exciting behaviours. It can be really tricky to photograph a breach as it usually happens out of nowhere and the photographer has to react quickly. Fortunately on this day our marine naturalists were on top of it and managed to get some exciting shots of the calf breaching.

Not only did the naturalists get a breach shot, Rebeka Pirker also got a gorgeous photo of the calf’s fluke! Calves don’t fluke as often and since they only spend one year with their mom, it can sometimes be tricky to keep track of these relationships over the years. Now that we have a fluke shot on record for this calf we can keep track of it as “Heather’s calf” in the upcoming years.

Thank you everyone who joined us and here are some of the best photos taken that day.

Heather and her calf chin slapping! Photo by Rebeka Pirker.

August 1st - An acrobatic baby humpback whale!

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