Beginning our adventure on the Salish sea today within the harbour, a Great Blue Heron was spotted perched on a cement column. Our magnificent Great Blue Heron is the largest of the heron species. It stands an impressive 1 to 1.4 meters (3’2” to 4’5”) tall, with a whopping wingspan of 1.7 to 2 meters (5’5” to 6’6”). Our trip then took us around the North side of Gabriola and through Dodd Narrows. A bald eagle was spotted soaring through the narrows, another bird with a massive wingspan of 2.5 meters (8’).

Travelling north back through Gabriola passage, we stopped at Saturnina Island and caught a glimpse of a well-camouflaged harbour seal. Harbour seals spotted coats help them blend into the pebbly beaches.

Heading east, we met up with a pod of orca; the T037As. Volker, the matriarch, and her offspring! Volker is a 28-year-old whale, who has birthed 5 kids. She must have her fins full with 4 boys and 1 girl, ages ranging from 15 to 3. We have our 1st boy Inyo at 15, Inky the second boy is 13, Spinnaker the 3rd boy is 9, her 4th and only confirmed girl, Crinkle, is 7 and her 5th calf T037A5 is 3. Her 5th calf T037A5 does not have a nickname yet. Unfortunately, because of the high mortality rate we see with the calves they don’t get their names until they are around 2 years old.

After leaving the orca, we witnessed some stellar sea lions fighting for space with each other on a buoy. Another one of the giants we see here in the Salish Sea, females weighing around 700 pounds and males can get to 2500 pounds!

Some harbour porpoises were seen very briefly on the way to the Gabriola bluffs. Harbour porpoises grow to be about 1.4 to 1.9 meters in length (4’7’’ to 6’3’’). Female harbour porpoises can weigh as much as 168lbs and males weigh up to 134lbs. We have two types of porpoise in the Salish Sea. The harbour porpoise that we see in the photos below and the Dall’s porpoise. The Dall’s porpoise can get up to 2.3 meters (7’4”) and can weigh between 370 0r 490 pounds. They are the largest species of porpoise. Why did I mention the Dall’s porpoise? It has been documented that the Harbour and Dall’s have been breeding. The harbour porpoise as the father mating with the larger Dall’s as the mother. How cool is that?! We may one day be able to spot one of the hybrid offspring on a tour!

The peregrine falcon that keeps a nest on the bluff was spotted again this afternoon. We’ll leave you with our final fun fact of the day, let’s talk about the speed of the peregrine falcon! It is the fastest bird in the entire world, able to reach astonishing speeds of 390km per hour!

Photos by marine naturalist Vanessa Vereschahen