This morning we were approached by curious humpbacks east of Porlier Pass. “Windy” was curious in the calm seas and came over to check us out. Zephyr scouted us out before leaving her curious calf to play and peruse with us. We also encountered Zigzag and her calf as well in the morning. While not as curious, they did perform some close pass by’s which were well appreciated by our onlookers.

As with most of our tours, we also encountered Harbour Seals, Stellar Sea-lions and Pelagic and Double-Crested Cormorants. The sea-lions this season have preferred chilling out on their own or in groups on the various marker and monitoring buoys peppered throughout the Strait of Georgia.

Zephyr and calf. Photo by Val, 10:30am tour

The afternoon tour seemed to bring out the whales in spades! An intimate single boat outing found a total of NINE humpbacks! Starting out fairly close to the harbour, Arial and Geometry were encountered North of Gabriola Island. Arial is a special whale, as they are one of the calves of the famous Houdini. Houdini along with another humpback - Big Mama - were among the first seen to return to these waters in the Salish Sea after the end of the commercial whaling era. After being hunted almost to extinction in the 1950’s, Humpback whales have experienced a tremendous rebound in numbers. It is estimated that populations have reach 80,000 worldwide from a low of 10-15,000. The Salish Sea was one of the last places to be repopulated, taking until the mid 2000’s for Humpback whale sightings to return. Our Northern Pacific population, once listed on the Species at Risk Act as ‘Threatened’ have been reassessed as a ‘Species of Special Concern’. Worldwide, Humpback whales have gone from an overall listing of ‘Endangered’ to individual population designations. Out of the 14 different populations, an incredible nine are listed as ‘Not at Risk’, one as ‘Threatened’ and only three as ‘Endangered’ (fisheries.noaa.gov).

As if to accent this point, the proverbial ‘Humpback Honey-hole’ was found near Porlier Pass! At one point the whales outnumbered people, seven to six! Windy, Fader, Zephyr and calf, and three others who weren’t close enough to be identified were all displaying feeding behaviour. We even witnessed a massive tail slap from either Windy or Zephyr (but of course missed taking the photo lol)!

Windy, Zephyr and calf. Photo by Brad, 3:30pm tour

Zephyr and Calf. Photo by Brad, 3:30pm tour

September 10th - Curious Humpbacks Chilling in the Calm Seas

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