This afternoon, we decided to head back north towards the humpbacks from earlier in the day. Imagine our surprise when suddenly a whale popped up out of the water! It was a breachapalooza! We found humpback whale Prowler (BCX1660) jumping continuously out of the water while another whale hung out close by. We later discovered it was Chi (Zephyr's 2021 calf)! Prowler was giving all sorts of behaviour at the surface: tail slaps, cartwheels, and full breaches. It was an amazing show of power, and our boats watched in awe. Adult humpbacks can weigh up to 35 tonnes, meaning that breaching Prowler was throwing a full 35 tonnes out of the water! This is a behaviour that requires a ton of energy from the animal, and so we generally begin to see this behaviour towards the end of the summer, after they have a chance to replenish their fat reserves. For context, the energy required for an adult humpback to breach is the energy equivalent of a human running a marathon! An impressive feat every time.

While this was happening, our other boat was getting a slightly different experience. Chi had decided to come up and blow bubbles at our vessel. This is an uncommon behaviour in humpbacks, although certain individuals seem to do it more than others. When a humpback whale approaches closer than 100m to our boats, we have to wait with our engines turned off until they decide to leave on their own accord. We always try and minimize our impact on the whales and not disturb them, but sometimes this is unavoidable. Today our guests were able to see very clearly why we have to be careful around these animals, as a close pass really highlights how massive they are. At only 2 years old, Chi was already larger than our boat! They will continue to grow until they are about 10 years old, and can reach lengths up to 17m long.

Soon these whales started to act a bit more typical, travelling in opposite directions. We spotted more blows not too far in the distance, and decided to go check them out. It was more humpback whales, officially making this a day of humpback soup! We headed over and were happy to see some familiar flukes. Spread over a few miles were Graze (BCY0523) and her 2023 calf, Bullet (BCX1658), and Viking (BCY1063). Watching the blows catching the final light of the day was beautiful, and we enjoyed every minute spent with our humpbacks. After our time was up with our humpbacks, we headed over to Halibut Bank.The Halibut Bank ODAS buoy is another great spot to see wildlife, and lately we’ve seen many sleepy Stellar Sea Lions hanging out here. We got to see these lovely animals on the yellow buoy, taking turns between fighting for a good spot, and napping in the sunshine.

Our final stop was the Gabriola Bluffs, to visit all the birds that call it home. The Cormorants and their chicks are always a sight to see! It was a beautiful way to finish the tour, as the cliffs are so impressive in the evening light. What a fantastic day!

Today’s photos were taken by Marine Naturalists Val Watson and Aly Kohlman.