September 11, 2023, 10:30 - Too Many Humpbacks to Count (but we did, it was 15)
It was one of those days when we could only describe the waters of the Salish Sea as “Humpback Soup”. Do you ever look at Chunky Campbell’s Soup and think to yourself what it would be like if the soup was the ocean and all the potatoes, beans, and other floating bits were whales? Well, after this trip, we know exactly what it was like! It seemed that we couldn’t look in any direction on the water without seeing the distinct blow of a humpback whale in the distance. We ended up spending quality time with 15 of these whales, in a bunch of different tightly associating groups, plus two loner whales by themselves (other than all the other humpbacks travelling nearby).
Let’s go over all the different whales we saw today:
Velvet (BCY1186) was travelling with Valiant (BCX1773)
A group of 5 whales with two associating groups: Schooner (BCX1193 calf 2021), Raccoon (BCX1233), and Split Fin (BCZ0298) closely associating, and Neowise (BCY0160 calf 2020) and Dalmatian (BCY0994) associating.
Incognito (BCX2053) by themself
Graphite (BCX1210 calf 2019) also travelling solo
Nike (BCX1377), Malachite (BCX1210 calf 2021), MMX0355, and an unknown friend all closely associating
Tempest (BCX0837) and another unknown friend
You know what they say, a picture is worth a thousand words and they will do amuch better job of telling you about the whales behaviour so I’ll let them speak for us!
The photos of all the whales and other wildlife seen during the trip taken by the onboard naturalists Aly Kohlman, Vanessa Vereschahen, and Val Watson are included below, and the whale photos are sorted accordingly!
1.
Velvet. Photo by Val Watson.
Valiant. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Valiant’s dorsal fin as they travelled. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
That red in the water is from Valiant pooping! It’s always super exciting to see as it can give details about what their eating. In this case, being bright red indicated a krill-heavy diet. Photo by Val Watson.
2.
Schooner. Photo by Val Watson.
Raccoon. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Split Fin. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Dalmatian. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Neowise. Photo by Val Watson.
Dalmatian’s dorsal fin. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
The underside of Neowise’s tail. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Raccoon preparing for a very high fluke! Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Another angle of Raccoons dive. Photo by Val Watson.
Split Fin’s tail beside a diving Raccoon. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Dalmatians dorsal fin. Photo by Val Watson.
Neowise diving close by. Photo by Val Watson.
A deep inhale from one of the humpbacks. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Neowise doing some pec slapping. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Neowise Diving. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
A tail flip from Neowise. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Dalmatian going for a dive. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
A close-up of a whale Barnacle! One of the parasitic species that lives on the humpback whales. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
You can see the Barnacles feet sticking out here! Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Up the nostril of Neowise. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Neowise doing a little spy hop. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Neowise’s pectoral fin in comparison to the open-boat. Photo by Val Watson.
Neowise sticking his Rostrum out of the water. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Dalamatian’s pectoral fin. We rate it a A+. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Dalmatians Rostrum. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
You can see the Ventral Pleats of this whale clearly in this photo! Those allow the humpbacks to take in about 20,000L of water with each mouthful. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Neowise pec slapping while swimming sideways. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Neowise’s pectoral fin. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Dalmatian “snaking” in the water. Photo by Val Watson.
Dalmatian doing a pec slap. Photo by Val Watson.
All the excited guests on the open boat. Photo by Val Watson.
Dalmatian spy hopping next to Neowise. Photo by Val Watson.
Dalmatian sneaking up on the boat. Photo by Val Watson.
Both Dalmatian and Neowise next to the vessel. Photo by Val Watson.
Neowise pectoral fin. Photo by Val Watson.
Look at the size of that thing! Did you know humpback pectoral fins get to be 5 meters long? This one belongs to a 3-year-old whale (Neowise). Photo by Val Watson.
Both Pectoral fins are up in the air! Photo by Val Watson.
Dalmatian lifting their face out of the water. Photo by Val Watson.
3.
Incognito. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
4.
Graphite. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
5.
MMX0355. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Nike. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Malachite. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Nike and MMX0355. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
MMX0355 cartwheeling. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Nike, MMX0355, and Malachite travelling closely. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Malachite’s pectoral fin covered in barnacles with MMX0355 in behind. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Malachite, Nike, and MMX0355. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Malachite doing a tail flick! We saw this whale with fresh propeller marks on his peduncle which we can see here have healed up very nicely! Photo by Aly Kohlman.
MMX0355 coming at the boat for a close encounter. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Malachite doing a roll! Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Malachite swimming sideways, showing off his tail fluke. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
The top side of Malachite’s tail fluke. You can see the large amount of barnacles on the leading edge.
Malachite’s Dorsal Fin.Photo by Aly Kohlman.
The unknown friend diving. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Can you see the “Swoosh” Nike is named for? Photo by Aly Kohlman.
6.
Tempest. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Other wildlife
Harbour Seals at white islets. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Steller Sea Lions at White Islets. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
A cormorant at the Gabriola Bluffs. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
A Steller Sea Lion at Harmac. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
A California Sea Lion with the Turnstones. Photo by Val Watson.
Black turnstones also spending time on the log booms. Photo by Val Watson.
Cuddle puddle with the sea lions. Photo by Val Watson.
Great Blue Heron. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.