It was a beautiful sunny day when we had two boats leave Nanaimo and head out in search of whales. When we have multiple boats on the water we spread them out cover different areas and increase our chance of finding whales! today, one of our vessels stuck inside the Southern Gulf Islands searching through Stuart Channel and Trincomali, going all the way south around Saltspring island! Our other vessel braved the waves and peaked out into the Strait of Georgia, hoping to see if there were any whales out there today. Unfortunately, the search for whales came up short today, but there were a ton of other interesting things to see along the journey!

First off was the adorable Harbour Seals. These small pinnipeds are always great to see during a tour since they are often found sitting out on rocks, basking in the sunshine. Even on cooler, less sunny days, these pinnipeds will be found out of the water since the air will tend to be warmer than the water. Water also conducts heat faster than air, and even if they were the same temperature, body temperatures decrease faster in the water than in the air!

The next wildlife stop was for the Sea Lions. Even on days when we see whales, these large slippery animals usually steal the show and become a guest favourite. We have two different species of sea lion: The Steller Sea Lion and the California Sea Lion. You can tell the difference between the two by appearance and sound. Have you heard local sea lions barking before? Those were the California Sea Lions! Were they growling instead? Those would be the Stellers. The Steller Sea Lions are also the larger of the two and have lighter colour fur compared with the Californias.

Another interesting thing that we saw during the tour wasn’t an animal, but rather algae. We saw a large red-coloured bloom of dinoflagellates close to Saltspring island. At the time we weren’t sure what it was that we were seeing, but after a little investigating after the fact, we figured it out! These dinoflagellates are also responsible for an amazing phenomenon that is better viewed at night, bioluminescence! When these microorganisms are disturbed they emit light! you can often see this along the shores of Vancouver Island in the summer and people will often use sticks, rocks, or other means to disturb the water while it’s happening to see more light be produced! Saltspring must be looking beautiful at night, but in the daylight, these orange congregations looked more on the gross side of things.

The final treat that one of our vessels got was seeing some Harbour Porpoise! Harbour Porpoises are the smallest and most shy of the local cetaceans, so anytime we get to see them is a treat!

After our time searching was up, our vessels returned to the Nanaimo Harbour, although there weren’t whales we still saw plenty of other wildlife! Hopefully, all our guests today will be able to use their vouchers to come back and try again!

May 22, 2023 - A scenic tour around the Southern Gulf Islands

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