Every trip is different, and we never know what (or who!) we are going to see when we leave the dock. Our afternoon tour came across the loners of the Salish Sea, seeing only 2 whales, but still having a multi-whale species tour! Zooming out to the strait, we headed to the Northeastern tip of Gabriola, an area very quickly turning into a new “Humpback Land” for us this year! It didn’t take long to find our first whale, a humpback in the Georgia Strait.

We quickly identified it as Spock (BCY1134). This young whale has quickly become a favourite amongst our company, as they frequently show us their entire fluke when going for a dive. This is great both for guests to watch and for our Naturalists, as they can easily identify from a good fluke shot! Spock was first spotted in our waters in 2021, so they are likely a younger animal, but we can’t confirm the exact ages of the humpbacks unless they arrive with their mothers. Today we watched Spock feeding below the surface. This hungry whale has just returned from their breeding grounds and is consuming over 3000 pounds of food every day. You could almost say Spock is “whaley” hungry! Thanks to reported sightings posted on HappyWhale, we know that this youngster spends their winters down south in Monterey Bay, California. Current estimates believe there are about 800 whales in the Californian breeding population. Here in our waters, the Humpbacks are also coming from the Hawaiian population, and we see a good mix of both around!

When we were done hanging out with Spock, we continued south in the Strait hoping to find another whale. Luckily our eagle-eyed captain on Kula spotted a single male orca dorsal in the distance. Today’s orca was:

T124C Cooper ♂ (1992)

While our male orca typically spend their entire lives with their mother, it’s not uncommon to see them disperse from their pod once they reach sexual maturity. Usually, they will end up rejoining at a later date, as mom will continue to feed them well into adulthood. Unfortunately for Cooper, his mother (T124 Myrtle) has passed away. Even though he still has living sisters, Cooper is what we call a “lone male” as he continues to travel on his own. However, it’s not uncommon for Cooper to meet up with other pods, and we’re never surprised when we see him pop up on the outskirts of a T-Party.
He also spends a significant amount of time with another lone adult male, T087 Harbeson. Did you know that male orca will form temporary same-sex pairings and some males will return to their same-sex partners year after year. We’re just happy that these two have found some companionship out there! However, it’s not always smooth sailing (boat pun!) between adult males. These two were recently seen traveling together and Cooper has also displayed some fresh rake marks on his dorsal fin. Could this be from a lovers quarrel or a male dominance display? We guess we’ll never know!

After our whale encounters, we headed to Stinky Rocks to round out the tour. We love to finish up here, as there is always tons to see! We spotted a Bald Eagle, and of course, a crowd-favourite, the massive Stellar Sea Lions!

Check out our pics from the day, taken by onboard Naturalists Aly Kohlman and Lucy Willis.

June 6, 2024, 3:30pm - Hanging out with loners

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