It was a beautiful and sunny day as our two vessels; Cascadia and Kula left the dock in search of whales on the 28th of March.

We got off to a rocky start, since there was some wind today our plan was to tuck into the more protected waters of the Southern Gulf Islands but a report from out on the open water got us interested. Both vessels got a rollercoaster ride while we searched in the waves for the whales! After a little while we didn’t see them, so we decided to try our luck in the islands after all. Our timing going back through Dodd Narrows was terrible, since a tugboat was pulling a huge log boom through! Both boats decided to make the best of being trapped and headed over to Harmac which is nearby and usually holds California Sea Lions who were drinking in the sunshine today!

Once we got through Dodd Narrows there was a special sight on display - a herring spawn!

These small fish are a huge part of our ecosystem as most of our local ecology is reliant on them! You can see from our photos below the vast amount of wildlife that even a tiny spawn like this brings in. There was flocks of seagulls and giant convocations of bald eagles! All these birds were diving the waters grabbing these small spawning fish out of the water. We watched from a distance, careful to not disturb the animals as the smorgasbord continued. There were also large rafts of sea lions resting after their time fishing, sometimes even getting dive bombed by the eagles!

The water itself changes during the herring spawn as the males release their milt to fertilize the eggs the females have laid on the seaweed in the intertidal zone. This milt turns the water a beautiful turquoise colour which is very easy to see in our photos! After watching the animals fishing for a while Kula ended up leaving. Cascadia got to see the spawn before heading out into the waves to search for the whales!

We continued our search through the Southern Gulf Islands, searching through Trincomali channel, Stuart channel, Pylades channel, and Northumberland channel. Unfortunately, today the whales were hiding from us, and we didn’t end up in the right area. The guests ended up receiving their vouchers to come out again for free with us and try again. Plus, they get to say they are the only two whale watching tours in our company’s history to get to see the herring spawn!

Our naturalists Rebecca Stirling and Val Watson got some fantastic photos during the trip which you can view below.