September 23rd - Honu at Entrance Island, Strike continues her solo adventure

We started our day with an early morning charter, pushing off the dock at 9:30 AM. We headed straight for the humpback soup hot spot. Sure enough, we found our humpback right near the north end of Gabriola between Orlebar Point and Entrance Island. BCX1856 Honu didn’t have a friend with them today, but that didn’t stop them from doing a large circle, diving and fluking, feeding on the abundance of fish in our waters.
Our first sighting of Honu was just last year, but they’ve been sighted in our waters since 2018. We also know that Honu winters in Hawaii, but we aren’t sure if Honu is a male or female. Many of our staff suspect they are a female, but unless we get lucky with our cameras during a breach, or Honu returns with a calf, we will be left wondering.

Our regular public tour left the dock at noon, heading out to pick up Honu where our morning charter left them circling. We re-acquired Honu who kept on circling, diving and fluking with that beautiful tail. After some time with Honu we decided to head into the gulf islands and see if Strike BCX1675 was still hanging out in her usual feeding spot. Sure enough, there she was, circling between Ruxton Pass and Yellowpoint. Right in the middle of the channel, there is a shallow rock shoal there that seems to be harbouring quite the food ball for Strike. While watching her the water around the boat seemed to boil with tiny fish jumping.
While she was up to her normal lazy circles she did breach for us in the distance today, which is always nice to see. Seeing a breach means that Strike is likely fat and happy, as she has extra energy to burn. We are all curious to see how long Strike will remain in her secret feeding spot before she heads out for migration.

Enjoy the photos below taken by our marine naturalists Cheyenne Brewster and Vanessa Vereschahen.

Honu (KEY0030). Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

Coastal Inspiration and Honu (KEY0030). Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

Honu (KEY0030). Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Strike (KEX0045). Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

California Sea Lion, posing. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

California Sea Lion. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

California Sea Lions. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Sleepy male California Sea Lions. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

Female Rhinoceros Auklet. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Entrance Island. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

September 2022Jilann LechnerSeptember 23, 2022Comment