September 21st - Playful Humpbacks and Hungry Orcas

Today our boats headed out into the strait searching for some whales. We found Heather and her calf Neowise in almost the same spot as the day before. There was a third humpback near by feeding and hanging out near our boats, but Neowise was the centre of the show, as usual.

As we arrived on scene Neowise breached 3 times in a row before doing some deep dives with mom. Whenever he surfaced he would lazily roll his tail at the surface, or turn on his side, sticking half his fluke out of the water. Heather decided she wanted to play a bit towards the end of our time with them and lifted her head out of the water in small chin slap before throwing her tail high into the air!

After hanging out with Heather and her calf one of our boats headed south to Saturna Island to find the T34’s and T37’s in the middle of a hunt. These whales were most likely hunting seals from the nearby islands. It must have been successful as there was many tail slaps, spy hopping and even a breach from one of the big girls.

We briefly stopped to see some harbour seals on the islands and even found a large group of Stellar Sea Lions hanging out. W haven’t seen the big boys in some time as they’ve all been north at the breeding grounds so it was great to see some of them out today.

Check out the great photos that were taken during the tour by our Naturalists.

Jilann LechnerSeptember 26, 2020Comment