It was a beautiful day for a tour, with glass-like water conditions and perfect lighting! When we pushed off the dock we first tried our luck North in the Strait of Georgia. We did a quick loop, but sadly there were no whales to be seen, but we were lucky enough to spot some of our other wildlife! We saw a pair of Bald Eagles watching some of our favourite little rock sausages (better known as Harbour Seals) sunbathing on Snake Island. After that, we headed to the booms at Harmac Mill. Here, we were graced by the presence of none other than the Harbour Seals’ bigger cousins, the California Sea Lions. We could hear and smell these stinky animals before we saw them. We also picked out a few Stellar Sea Lions in the mix too!

We watched them for a while as the cold weather and backlit breath were the perfect setup to snap a couple of photos.
Afterwards, we went south, through Dodd Narrows. We began searching Stuart channel and Trincomali channel for any telltale signs of whales. Alas, there were none to find, so our Captain decided to pop back out into the Strait to try our luck again.
His “whale senses” must have been tingling today, as we headed through Porlier Pass and almost immediately spotted a blow on the other side! We were quickly able to ID this familiar fin as Tempest (BCX0837), one of the regular Humpbacks in our area.

Before long we realized we had stumbled upon a feeding frenzy. There were many birds, sea lions, harbour seals as well as plenty of other Humpbacks all around us! The other Humpbacks at the dinner party were ID’d as Meqe (BCZ0492), Sherwina (BCY0961), Kraken AKA Pyramid/Monarch (BCZ0180), Yin Yang (BCY1058) and off in the distance, but close enough to get a tail photo for ID was Neowise (KEX0068)!
We once believed the Humpback to be fairly solitary animals, usually spotted on their own except for mothers and calves. However, this is now considered an outdated idea. As humpback populations continue to steadily increase we have witnessed more and more associating between individuals. They aren’t always travelling side-by-side, but it is now common to be able to spot multiple whales in one area. This season it has become somewhat rare to see just a single Humpback on a trip!
So, where did all the Humpbacks go? Humpbacks were a prime target during the Whaling Era. Whaling was prominent in North America from the 1650s until the 1960s. Whales were hunted primarily for their oil, but “whalebone” (baleen) was also highly sought after for corset boning, umbrella ribs, and carriage whips.
Nanaimo was home to one of the whaling stations that were in charge of processing the deceased whales during the early 1900s.
Between the 1960s and the 1990s, it was very rare to spot Humpbacks in the Salish Sea. It was not until 1997 that we had our first confirmed Humpback sighting. That Humpback was nicknamed Big Mama and she still returns to our area year after year! You can probably guess from her name that she is a Mama, but did you know she is actually a Super Mama? She has now successfully brought 7 calves back to the Salish Sea. This is no small feat when you think about how many thousands of miles she must travel between her breeding and feeding grounds and how many predators she must protect her calf from along the way.
On the topic of mothers, let’s bounce back to our first humpback of the day. Tempest has been a hot topic whale recently, as she was the subject of a non-invasive aerial study to monitor humpback body conditions and pregnancy rates, as discussed by Ocean Wise in a recent Facebook post. Judging by how plump she is, it is believed that she is currently pregnant! If she returns to our area with a calf next season, this will be her 4th known baby. We now have around 500 Humpbacks that frequent the Salish Sea and Tempest might be growing one more to add to our catalogues!

Once our time was up with our Humpbacks we made one more stop at a group of rocks we call “Stinky Rocks”. Here is where we often find our Stellar Sea Lions hauled out, and sure enough our large stinky friends were just as active as ever. They always seem to be fighting over the prime spot on the rocks - they are so entertaining to watch with their many facial expressions! The sun was starting to get low in the sky so we had to head home, giving us a great sunset as we headed back into the Nanaimo Harbour!

Photos were taken by onboard Naturalist Vanessa Vereschahen.