It was our first trip of the season and what a wonderful day we had! It started with our staff showing up bright and early, eager to get back out there! Who would we spot today?

We began our search in the Gulf Islands where we had heard of a report of an orca near Maple Bay. We headed south and searched and searched, but unfortunately the mystery whale was nowhere to be found. We were still determined to find something though, so we continued south beside Saltspring Island and through Sansum Narrows. Once in Satellite Channel, we rounded the corner and pointed our nose towards Active Pass. Active Pass is usually a hot spot for pinniped activity so we hoped to find some seals or sea lions in there. We were travelling at a good speed when suddenly we made a detour to one of the small rocky islands to our left. There, we spotted a lone bald eagle perched high in the trees. We were hoping it would start chattering away, as Eagle calls are always neat to hear, but our feather friend remained silent today so we continued on our to Active Pass.

Once we reached the Pass, we began hearing the grumbles and growls of a bunch of sea lions! At the very tip of Mayne Island we saw not one, not two, but at least FIFTY sea lions snoozing away on the rocks!

A group of California sea lions sits below some sleepy Steller sea lions. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

A pair of Steller sea lion males sitting in the shallows. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

Everyone seemed super sleepy today! Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

Sometimes, sea lions are mistaken for orca. This can occur when the sea lions thermoregulate and put their flippers up in the air like this. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

After departing our sea lions we turned the corner and entered Active Pass. It wasn’t long until we spotted a bob of seals sleeping away on the rocky shore of Mayne Island, just around the corner from the sea lions! Our seals are usually significantly quieter and less active than our sea lions and today was no different.

The beautiful “rock sausages” (Harbour Seals) of the Salish Sea. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

Some of them started looking at us! Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

After spending some time with our seals we turned eastward and exited Active Pass. We had still been unable to find a whale, but we had not lost hope. We travelled north up Galiano’s coastline, searching and searching, until suddenly…there was a blow! There was a small humpback whale travelling close to shore!

At first, we thought this whale might be tricky to ID as they were not lifting their tail out of the water. However, thanks to their distinct dorsal fin, we were able to ID them as Quadrata (BCY1255)!

Quadrata is a known “shy fluker”. Throughout our encounters with them, they rarely raise their fluke (their tail) high in the air. Since we usually rely on the pattern on the underside of their flukes to confirm a whales identity, we have to get a bit creative when we find whales like Quadrata. Thankfully, Quadrata has a very distinct marking on their dorsal’s right side, we were able to confirm their ID with that! The marking can be seen here:

Quadrata (BCY1255) showing their distinct dorsal fin. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

That white circular shape was enough for us to be fairly confident it was Quadrata, however, we were also able to get a corner fluke from our lovely little whale which helped us be 100% confident in our ID.

The corner of Quadrata (BCY1255)’s fluke! Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

Today, Quadrata was travelling slowly while feeding near Cook Cove on Galiano Island. We travelled with Quadrata for about an hour before we had to say goodbye and started heading back north towards our home port. The Salish Sea was like glass, with barely a ripple on its surface. We cruised along the coastline of the outer Gulf Islands before making our way through the Flat Top Islands beside Gabriola Island, zooming past Entrance Island, and making our way back into the Nanaimo Harbour.

When we make our blogs, we always try to link our humpbacks to their associated Happywhale profile. Happywhale is a great tool that can be used to track site fidelity and relations.
However, Quadrata is a rare case - they do not have a profile yet! Hopefully, this will be updated soon and we will link their profile here if that happens. In the meantime, here are a couple of blogs we have made of previous encounters with Quadrata:

September 19th - Nike and Quadrata near Entrance Island

September 20th - Nike, Quadrata, Honu, and Strike! It's Humpback Soup!

September 21st - Honu, a mystery humpback, and Quadrata off of Gabriola

September 25th - Humpback Soup throughout the Salish Sea!

September 26th - Humpbacks as far as the eye can see!

Please enjoy these photos taken by Marine Naturalist Cheyenne Brewster.