Today we ended up leaving the harbour with high hopes of finding whales. There was already reports of having whales close by so we headed over to where they were last seen not long into our travels we spotted the blows in the distance! As we got closer it was clear that these were two humpback whales. These two were quickly identified as Kraken (BCZ0180) and Two Spot (KEY0010). The way we ID our humpbacks is by looking at the bottom of the flukes of their tail. There is different colouration and patterns on the tails that can help us figure out exactly who we are looking at. Watching these two was very nice since they were very willing to show off their tail flukes to us. Two Spot is named for the two spots of black that are on either side of his otherwise all white tail. Kraken also has a very unique fluke, with the zigzagging black line on the left side of their tail being their most distinguishing feature. We aren’t quite sure where the name Kraken came from but we like it a lot! One boat also got a glimpse of another whale, Honu (BCX1856) in the distance while watching these two but she never made an appearance again after that.

Leaving these whales our boats went back into search mode! Travelling south down Gabriola Island they saw another humpback in the distance, this time a young whale: Quest (BCZ0502). This whale was being shy and only gave its full tail once while we were watching it.

After leaving this whale the two boats that were out took a different path to one another. Kula, our closed boat, did a quick search inside the islands and then headed back up towards Nanaimo without finding any other whales along the way.

The open boat, Cascadia, headed to the inside of the islands and found a very lazy humpback whale, Strike (KEX0045). She has been circling in the area for the last month or so. We don’t exactly know why she would be in the one area for so long, other than it must have lots of food for her there. After watching Strike lazily swimming in the area they started their journey back to the dock. As they were travelling they suddenly spotted dorsal fins in the distance, it was a pod of orca! Unfortunately, our covered vessel had already docked and disembarked by this time otherwise we would’ve turned around to head for the sighting. So, today just Cascadia got to see the T037As travelling together in the southern gulf islands. They were heading north towards Ruxton Passage. It was great to watch these whales for a little while before time was up and they too had to return to the docks. Overall it was an amazing day getting to explore the nature that the Pacific Northwest has to offer!

Photos by Marine Naturalists Janine Van Der Linden and Val Watson.

September 28th - Kraken, Two Spot, Honu, Quest, Strike, & the T037A's!

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