It was a bright sunny morning as our guests climbed into their anti-exposure suits and boarded our 2 open vessels, Keta and Cascadia. The boats pushed off the docks and headed south - Keta went through the gulf islands and Cascadia skirted around the outside into the Strait of Georgia.
There were many boats on the water from all the different whale-watching companies on the coast, so we were hoping someone would find something.

Cascadia stopped at Entrance Island to view Steller and California sea lions before they continued their journey southbound. Today one of the sea lions was ‘fishing’ when we approached - it appears that the lucky thing had caught itself an octopus and was happily munching on it in the water.
We travelled through the gulf islands and eventually reached the Washington border. Once over the border, we found some whales - 2 humpbacks in fact! This was a pair we’ve been waiting to see since we heard they had returned to the Salish Sea. It was Big Mamma (BCY0324) and her newest calf who has already been confirmed to be a little boy.
Big Mamma is famous in our waters, as the first confirmed humpback to return to the Salish Sea after almost a century of no humpback sightings. Due to the heavy whaling that took place in the Pacific Ocean in the 1900s, humpbacks were forced out of the Salish Sea. In late 1990 a lone humpback was spotted in the San Juan Islands. The following year they were photographed again. At this time there was no catalogue to refer to and our whales hadn’t received names - we just knew it was the same whale based on markings from previous photos. In 2003 they were sighted again and this time they had a calf with them. After many years of repeatedly returning to our Salish Sea with calves every 3-4 years, this big whale earned the name Big Mamma. She has brought 7 calves with her through our waters since her first appearance over 20 years ago.
Big Mamma shows up every spring in the San Juan Islands and slowly makes her way north through the Salish Sea. She stops for a few days to weeks in the Strait of Georgia before eventually finding her way up towards Campbell River, where she spends the majority of the summer feeding. She has been travelling up to the north end of the island consistently since 2008. We hope to see her a few more times before she leaves our range, but even if this is our only trip with her this spring, we’ll have another chance to see her and her new son in the fall. As Big Mamma heads back towards Hawaii, where she overwinters, she usually passes through our range again, stopping by for a few days to a couple of weeks before she disappears again for the winter. It’ll be great to see how big her little boy gets by the fall!

After viewing our whales the boats began the long tour home. It’s quite the trip to make it all the way to the US and back. The boats cruised through the gulf islands heading back towards the Nanaimo harbour. Stopped briefly to see harbour seals and sea lions hauled out on the rocky islands that dot our coastline. Today we had an unusual encounter - a pod of porpoises decided to wake ride one of our open vessels near the Northern tip of Saltspring on their way home. What is wake riding? This is the term used when animals ‘ride’ the wake (wave created by a boat) and travel along with the boat. You have to be very careful when this occurs. Make sure to not suddenly stop and also avoid sudden course changes. You should hold course and speed or reduce speed gradually.

Photos below were taken by Marine naturalists Keagan Sjolie and Janine Van Der Linden

BCY0324 Big Momma Humpback whale calf Boundary Pass Nanaimo — Big Momma in the front with her calf by her side. Photo by Keagan S.

Steller Sea Lion Entrance Island Nanaimo — Steller sea lions hauled out on Entrance Island. Photo by Janine VDL.

Gull Entrance Island — A gull swooping in for some scraps! Photo by Janine VDL.

BCY0324 Big Momma humpback Nanaimo — Big Momma going for a dive! Photo by Janine VDL.

The Salish Sea is calling!
Book your own Salish Sea Adventure and join us to see all the beautiful wildlife BC has to offer.
We are running daily tours at noon for the rest of this week, and on May 15th we switch to 2 tours daily.
You can choose between a 10:30 am and a 3:30 pm tour.
There are also 2 boats to choose from.
The semi-covered vessel Kula has a heated cabin for some extra comfort, as well as a viewing deck to watch the whales from.
The open vessels Keta and Cascadia are uncovered, providing nearly 360 degree views the whole tour.

Both vessels come with a washroom, a captain, and a marine naturalist to answer any of your questions during the tour.

There are 3 ways to book your Salish Sea experience:
Call us at 250-667-5177
Visit our waterfront office at #5 - 90 Front Street Nanaimo
or book directly through our website

May 9th - To Washington and back

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