July 13th - A full day of humpback whales! We encountered Slate and calf and in the morning and 4 more animals in the evening!

It was another beautiful sunny day as our boats set off in search of whales at 10:30. After traveling southeast for awhile we encountered two familiar faces - humpback whales Slate and her new calf! We’ve seen these two around a lot lately and they have been especially inquisitive. Today was no exception.

We always keep our 100m viewing distance from humpback whales, but occasionally they approach within that range and to make sure we don’t harm the animals, we turn off our engines and wait for them to move away. Slate and her calf were very interested in our boats during this morning tour and our lucky guests got to see them up close and personal! The calf was rolling around in the water, showing off it’s belly and beautiful fluke pattern. We even got a close glimpse at the tubercles on the face (the big bumps) and all of the hairs and sea lice that grow in-between!

On both of our morning and afternoon tours we stopped to visit some pinnipeds, including the harbour seals who rest on the rocky shores of the Gulf Islands year round. They are in pupping season right now, so most days we also get to see some small, fuzzy pups nuzzling near mom. Most sea lions have returned to their summer grounds, but there is one that we’ve been visiting on the buoy near Gabriola who is the same uncomfortable-looking napping position every time!

On our afternoon tour we departed from Nanaimo at 3:30pm on our boats and found FOUR humpback whales! They were demonstrating all sorts of behaviours from milling, traveling, feeding, and even breaching and tail stands! We saw some beautiful flukes of whales we don’t immediately recognize, so we might have some new individuals to add to the Keta Coastal Conservation Humpback ID catalogue! We were able to later ID one of our whales as Checkmate (CRC-16378).

Here are some of the best photos taken on the tours by marine naturalists Rachel Peterson and Brad Farrow.

The underside of Slate’s calf. Photo by Rachel Peterson, 10:30am.

Ready for my close up! Photo by Rachel Peterson, 10:30am.

Photo of Checkmate. Photo by Brad Farrow, 3:30pm.

Flukes up! Photo by Brad Farrow, 3:30pm.

This sea lion has no problem sharing its space with a seagull! Photo by Brad Farrow, 3:30pm.

Jilann LechnerJuly 17, 2021Comment