It was another fin-tastic day on the water on July 26th! As we cruised along we got word that some humpbacks had been spotted off the Flattop Islands shortly after pushing off from the dock. We got on scene to find two humpbacks busy eating away. They were identified as:

Anvil (BCZ0410) and Beak/Nuage (BCX1606)!

Anvil needs to get nice and full before she makes her migration to her breeding/calving grounds in Hawaii this winter. While we are unsure where Beak migrates to, they also need to bulk up in preparation for their big trip to likely either Hawaii or Mexico. Humpbacks usually arrive in our area sometime between March and August and may stick around all the way until December - it really depends on how fast they can gain enough weight. Humpbacks rarely eat during their migration, so they rely on their summer feeding to keep them going until they return to our area again the following spring. This means they end up going on a multi-month fast, and if they gave birth in their breeding grounds, they would have a little calf to feed on the way back to the feeding grounds too!

Typically, humpbacks give birth to a calf every 2 to 3 years. Anvil’s most recent calf was born last year in 2022. It is possible that Anvil might be eating for 2 right now - we will have to wait and see if she brings back another bouncing baby next season!

After departing our humpbacks our boats started cruising to some of our favourite wildlife spots. We stopped at Stinky Rocks - an unofficially named rocky shelf that our pinnipeds like to haul out on. The sea lions were snoozing away in the summer sun as usual today. While most of our sea lions have migrated out of our area by now, we always have a small collection of sea lions who end up spending the whole year here.

We also spotted a small herd of Harbour seals resting on the rocks. We are right in the middle of pup season for our seals right now, and today we were lucky enough to see some of the adorable young ones beside their mothers!

After cruising away from our wildlife we entered into the protected waters of the Southern Gulf islands and began heading back north. We love taking this route as it showcases the beautiful landscape of the West Coast, and sometimes (if we are really lucky!) we are able to spot extra whales along the way. Today was one of those lucky days!…well, sort of at least.

As we crossed Ruxton Passage we spotted a splash in the horizon. We were unsure what it was so we went over to take a closer look. It turns out this was a fan-favourite orca, Indy!

T065A5 Indy ♂ (2014)

Unfortunately, Indy was being extra elusive today. He surfaced once, VERY quickly, and then vanished! Basically, he was the Salish Sea equivalent of the Loch Ness monster today. We tried to reacquire the tricky little whale but to no avail. After we left Indy we travelled north, cruised through Dodd Narrows, and headed back to home port.

Our afternoon tour was very similar to our morning tour. We tried to reacquire T065A5 Indy again, but he continued to be highly elusive and disappeared without a trace. While we are unsure where Indy was off to today, he seemed like he was on a mission as he was travelling very fast all day. Since Indy was being uncooperative, we headed over to Anvil (BCZ0410) who was busily feeding along the ferry lanes. This time Anvil was travelling quite fast, and surfacing very often. Her dive times were shorter than 2 minutes! To put it in perspective, dive times for humpbacks are typically closer to 5 to 12 minutes per dive, and humpbacks are able to hold their breath for up to an hour at a time.

After we left Anvil, we started cruising along towards the sunset. We stopped to see some seals and sea lions, as well as a little River Otter resting. To finish the tour off, we popped by the Gabriola Bluffs to visit our Cormorant rookery and a nearby eagle nest. While no one was home in our eagle nest in the morning, we were lucky enough to spot a couple of inhabitants this afternoon! Our eaglets (baby eagles) have now fledged (are able to fly) so they are becoming a bit rarer to spot during our trips, so we are always excited when they are hanging out in the trees overhanging the channel.

Photos by Marine Naturalists Cheyenne Brewster and Des Poier.

July 26, 2023 - Anvil, Beak and an elusive Indy

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