We headed out again during the afternoon of the 4th to see if we would be able to find some of the same whales that we saw this morning. Instead, we came across a new group of whales: The T099s! This pod consists of 5 members:

T099 Bella ♀ (~1984)
T099B Holly ♀ (2007)
T099C Barakat ♂ (2009)
T099D Puck ♂ (2015)
T099E ♀ (2021)

We ended up having another vessel find these whales and since we all share sightings, we headed over that way and got to see them. These whales were already out over about half a mile, likely trying to come across something for dinner. While we were with them though, we didn’t end up seeing them being successful.

These whales continued their travels north as we watched them. We got some really great looks at the sprouting male in the group: Barakat. He is quickly becoming an impressive male, although a little hard to identify sometimes since he doesn’t look like his photo in the catalogue anymore. This is very common for teenage males since that is when their dorsal fin starts to grow and change shape. Barakat is also one of the rare whales that don’t have any distinct notches out of this dorsal fin, making things even more difficult. His sister, Holly, on the other hand, has very distinct notches in her dorsal fin, making her one of the easiest whales to ID. Today though, she decided to be on the far side of the pods spread so we didn’t get any photos of her until much further into our time spent with them. Every bit of time spent with the Impressive Barakat was lovely though, and towards the end of our time the family came back together and we got to see all five of them surfacing together.

After leaving these two, we tried our luck in the strait to see if there were any other whales to be found! After travelling for a bit we spotted it, blows in the distance! It was two humpback whales playing in the water together: Two Spot (BCZ0432) and BCX1965! These two were slapping their pectoral fins against the water, rolling around next to each other, and one made a big splash with the guests by jumping all the way out of the water! It was quite the sight to behold.

Leaving these two behind, we continued in the direction of Nanaimo, only to see two more flukes rising from the water in the distance! These two were IDed as Niagara (BCY0057) and Wolf Eel (BCY0940). We weren’t able to stay with these two for too long as we were running out of sunlight for this trip, so we slowly continued our journey back to Nanaimo. It didn’t take long before one more humpback made itself known to us, it was Neowise (BCY0160 calf 2020)! He was up to his usual antics, and came up right next to the boat, giving everyone a scare! He didn’t stick around long though, and continued travelling away from us after his quick investigation of the vessel.

Finally, after all these amazing encounters with the whales, we returned to the dock just as the sun was slipping behind the mountains. It was a beautiful day spent with so many whales, and the Marine Naturalist onboard, Vanessa Vereschahen, captured some of these moments beautifully. All her photos can be viewed below.

September 4, 2023, 3:30 - The T099s were travelling in the Strait, and we saw 5 different humpbacks!

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