The conditions were perfect as our vessels set out at 10:30am to search for wildlife in the Salish Sea. About an hour into the tour we encountered some humpback whales near Porlier Pass, the gap between Valdes and Galiano Island. This is a common place to find humpbacks feeding because of the mixing waters and depth.

Using our onboard catalogues and our telephotos lenses, we were able to identify the humpback whales as individuals “Prowler” (KEX0047) and “Valiant” (KEX0049). You too can identify humpbacks when you are out on the water using this free resource from local NGO Keta Coastal Conservation! (http://www.ketacoastalconservation.org/keta-catalogue-the-salish-sea)

Prowler can be a little trickier to identify and you need a good photo of the trailing edge of the fluke to get a good match, but Valiant is one of the easier regulars to pick out of the catalogue because of its scarred up fluke. This whale has had an encounter with a predator and has all of the scratches to show for it! Humpback whales are large, strong animals, but even they are on the menu for some species of sharks and… killer whales! It is likely that this whale had an encounter with a pod of marine mammal eating killer whales when it was a calf, but fortunately lived to tell the story.

While we were on scene with these animals they were mostly traveling and doing deep dives, most likely feeding in the water column on small prey such as krill, herring, or other small bait fish. A couple of our boats got really lucky and witnessed another feeding behaviour that is rare to see in the Salish Sea - bubblenet feeding! This behaviour is regularly seen further north in Alaska and occasionally on a much smaller scale down here in the Salish Sea.

How it works is the humpback whale will exhale bubbles while swimming underwater in a circle. These bubbles will confuse the prey and corral them into the centre of the circle that has been made, essentially forming a net made out of bubbles! The humpback will then lunge from the bottom of the net, through the middle, capturing a huge gulp of water full of prey. It is an incredible sight to see and just goes to show how incredibly smart these animals are.

Here are some of the best photos from the morning tours taken by the marine naturalists.