During our tour on November 21st we ended up seeing a total of 4 humpback whales and a ton of other marine life! The humpbacks were travelling in two pairs, with BCY1144 and Strike (BCX1675) travelling together and Yogi (BCY0409) and Bullet (BCX1658) together.

We first found BCY1144 and Strike together near snake island, only about 5 minutes outside the Nanaimo harbour. The area around snake island and entrance island has been a hotspot for whales for the last month or two. It seems this is a high productivity area, as we have seen feeding behaviour out of the humpbacks we have seen here. As we were watching BCY1144 and Strike we noticed the other two in the distance, closer to protection island. In humpback terms, this is still very close by and it’s highly likely that these two pairs would be aware of each other, and maybe even talking to each other.

In our waters there isn’t much conflict between different humpbacks, other than the odd grouping of males that could be competing to escort a female to the breeding grounds. In this case these two pairs seemed to be content feeding in the same area, but not interacting much otherwise.

We also had a harbour seal in the mix with our whales at one point. It’s amazing to see the size difference between our smaller marine mammals compared to the huge whales. In the photo below you can see the little harbour seals head with two dark log looking things in the background. Those are Strike and BCY1144. It’s photos like this that make you realize how difficult it can be to spot these animals in the water. Most of our photos feature the humpbacks as they prepare to dive when they arch their backs and sometimes lift their huge tails completely out of the water. In actuality, this isn’t what the whales are doing most of the time.

What we usually see from the whales is that they will surface a few times (usually between 2-6 surfaces) then the last surface will end with the arch and dive. When they are surfacing just to breathe they won’t bring much of their bodies out of the water, and can be hard to spot. This is even more evident when they are sleeping, since they will rest just below the surface in a behaviour called logging. They still will breathe while asleep, so the blows can be the easiest way to spot them. The saying “if you see a blow, go slow” is a great reminder to any mariners as it’s one of the easiest ways to know theres a whale in the area. If you go slow you’re more likely to spot them and either avoid them, or slow down and enjoy watching them in their natural habitat! Remembering to keep at least 100m away from humpback whales and 400m from killer whales is also important, not just for the whales safety but for your own since the animals can be very unpredictable.

After watching our whales we left to see what other wildlife we could find. We headed over to snake island where the harbour seals can often be found and then to Entrance where there is a Steller Sea lion haul out! Pinnipeds are usually amusing to watch as they have a ton of personality and aren’t shy about letting each other know when they aren’t pleased.

Naturalist Vanessa captured some great photos during the tour which you can see below!

November 21st - More humpbacks near Nanaimo!

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