The day began with a sighting report of two humpbacks travelling through Northumberland Channel very close to home! We met up with them as they were passing Harmac going south towards False Narrows. Upon realizing that False Narrows is too shallow to pass through, especially during such a low tide, our two whales turned around and headed north out of Northumberland Channel.

Humpback whales that we spotted today included:

Blizzard (BCX1817)

Slice (2021 calf of BCX1057 Divot)

Quite often when we see humpback whales, they travel by themselves or in groups of two. Today, Blizzard and Slice were associating: they were surfacing together and doing dives closely next to each other. We don’t know much about Blizzard the humpback whale, as this is the first time we have spotted this whale as a company. Slice is a known male who is now two years old. His mother is Divot, who is a 20-year-old female that is the first known calf of a female known as Big Mama. Big Mama was one of the first whales to be sighted back in the Salish Sea after the end of commercial whaling in Canada. Her return to the area has brought many generations of humpback whales that we have had the pleasure of seeing every summer. Big Mama has been a big source of hope in the Salish Sea since her first sighting in 1997. She now has a confirmed 7 children, 6 grandchildren (Slice being grandchild number 5) and 2 great-grandchildren. She has certainly created an amazing legacy in the Salish Sea.

Humpback whales migrate from warmer waters to cooler waters every year during the spring to summer season. The humpbacks of our area spend their winters in either Hawaii, Mexico or Baja breeding. The humpbacks take approximately one to three months of swimming to return to the Salish Sea in the spring and summer to feed. When they are here, they are eating more than 3000 lbs of food a day to make up for the fact that their breeding grounds have little to no food available for them. Humpback whales can fit up to 20 000 litres of water in their mouths thanks to the ventral grooves on their chin that expand. Their baleen act as a filter lining their top jaw that keeps their food in their mouth and allows water to pass back out of their mouth after taking a big mouthful.

On more recent tours we have witnessed a lot of fish jumping into the air. The primary reason why fish jump is due to being spooked by a predator or a boat passing by. When we see the fish jump, it sure makes us realize that the humpbacks are feeding in a great spot!

Photos on this day were taken by Marine Naturalist’s Carmen Murphy and Aly Kohlman.