In the afternoon we were able to find a humpback whale just outside of Nanaimo. This whale was being a little tricky at first, surfacing low and breathing shallowly when they did. With the evening light, it made seeing the mist very difficult, but eventually, we fell into a rhythm and were able to hang out with our whale.

This sleepy little whale was zig-zagging out of the Nanaimo harbour, surfacing 3-4 times before very lazily lifting their tail and diving. These lazy tail lifts were exactly what we needed to help us ID our humpback. Using the markings on the underside of their tail we were able to ID this whale as Dalmatian, the 2015 calf of Heather, a humpback who frequents our waters during the summer. Dalmatian’s tail is very unique and it didn’t take our naturalist long to match them to our catalogue. As Dalmatian sleepily travelled with us we spotted a second blow. At first, we thought it was Dalmatian surfacing after a long dive, but this whale was traveling fast! After a very speedy drive by our second whale lifted its tail just enough for us to get a clear shot and realize Dalmatian had been joined by Strike, a female who has been in the area for a few days. Strike dove beneath the waves and didn’t resurface again where we could see them. They were either doing very deep feeding dives or had taken off under the water out of our eyesight.

After watching Dalmatian surface once more and wave lazily at us with their tail again, they slipped below the waves and we departed, heading for Entrance Island to see some Steller Sea Lions. The sea lions today were a rowdy bunch, snarling, growling and talking to one another as they clambered over each other. The large males were watching over everything carefully while the females and last year’s pups ran amok along the waterline. Typically at this time of year, we expect our Steller Sea Lions to have almost disappeared completely, heading north for the breeding season. Apparently, we missed the memo and breeding season has been delayed, as we still have a number of large males and plenty of females hanging out near Nanaimo. Any day now we will see the last of the head north, not returning until early September with new pups in tow.

We also stopped to see some Pacific harbour seals off Gabriola before rounding the corner to see our cormorants at the nests.
We were fortunate to spot a special bird here today, a Peregrine falcon perched high on the cliffs, sleeping at the entrance to a crevice where we can only speculate they have a nest. We spotted the Peregrine falcons back in 2019 for a few days before they vanished, they came back the year after and last year too, but always up in the trees or flying around the cliffs. Never perched anywhere near a potential nesting sight. This year it looks like they may have finally settled into the neighbourhood, hopefully, to raise some babies. We will be keeping a close eye on this area over the rest of the summer, excitedly waiting to see if babies emerge

Enjoy some photos of today’s wildlife taken by Marine Naturalist Rebeka Pirker.

Nanaimo Vancouver Island Whale Watch Humpback Dalmatian — Dalmatian

June 18th 3:30 PM - Humpbacks out of the harbour

© Vancouver Island Whale Watch 2018-2024. All Rights Reserved.