July 9, 2024, 3:30 pm - Two Pairs of Humpback Whales in the Strait
We couldn’t have asked for better weather for our whale watching adventure than we had this afternoon. The sun was shining and the winds were calm as we left the dock here in Nanaimo. Thanks to the success of the morning trip, we had an idea of where to go. This morning we had seen some humpback whales spending time together in the Strait of Georgia near an area known as Halibut Bank, so we decided our best bet was to head in that direction once more to see if we would be able to find those whales again. We scanned for the entire time along the way as well, until we spotted the Yellow ODAS Buoy marking Halibut Bank in the distance. With keen eyes, we noticed some visitors on this buoy - a group of Steller Sea Lions!
The Sea Lions in the area end up in strange places around the Salish Sea, and buoys seem to be one of the favourites. While there’s not much room on the top of the buoy itself, there are benefits to it. Buoys typically mark areas of interest like the Bank, where this buoy collects data about the weather and ocean, like wind speeds, wave heights, air temperature, water temperature and pressure. When there are too many Sea Lions that want to spend time here, it can affect the equipment and make it so it doesn’t read properly. We tend to not mind though, since it’s a nice place to stop along our crossing of the Strait.
After leaving the sea lions behind to their napping, we continued towards the whales. While we had stopped, one of the vessels based in Vancouver found one of the whales that we had this morning, this time travelling with someone new! It was Split Fluke (BCX1068) but this time she was travelling with Dalmatian (BCY0994). This is a very interesting pairing, given that these two are brother and sister! Both of them share the same mother, Heather (BCY0160). There is no way to know who the father is for the whales, given that they aren’t involved in the raising of the calves. The calves just travel with their mother for the first year of their life, and then they go their separate ways.
So it raises the question, would these two know that they are related? Split Fluke was born in 2006, being Heather’s first known calf. Dalmatian was born 9 years later, so there is no way that there would have been any overlap. There are two other calves that Heather had between these two, and one more since Dalmatian. All of Heather’s children seem to be alive and well, and continue to be spotted in the Salish Sea, while Heather herself hasn’t been seen since 2020. There have been other interactions between this sibling group that we have observed, with the youngest, Neowise (BCY1228) spending time with both of these siblings in the past year. The other two don’t seem to spend time in the same area, so we haven’t seen interactions with them during our tours.
Soon it was time to leave this sibling pair behind and start travelling back towards our side of the Strait. Along the way, we stumbled upon another pair of humpback whales that were travelling together. This time it was Dandelion (BCY1107) and Backsplash (BCY0892) spending time together. These two were basically glued to each other when we first arrived on scene, but then they split up and started to travel in opposite directions. We spent some time with these two, before continuing towards Nanaimo once more.
Along the way home, we stopped close to Entrance Island, at a place we call “Seal Rock”. Can you guess what we were looking for here? Seals! There was also a Black Oyster Catcher that caught our attention flying past us, and then walking the shoreline looking for a snack. Finally, we stopped at the Gabriola Bluffs and got to see the Bald Eagles and Cormorants that were nesting along the cliffs. It was a lovely end to a great trip as we watched these birds in the golden sun. All of the amazing photos from this day taken by Marine Naturalist Vanessa Vereschahen are included below!
The ODAS (ocean data acquisition system) buoy at Halibut Bank covered in Sea Lions.
A lazy Sea Lion dipping their flippers in the water.
One of the whale’s rostrums lifting from the water.
Split Fluke’s dorsal fin.
Split Fluke diving while Dalmatian surfaces beside her.
Dalmatian arching his back to dive.
Dalmatian lifting his tail flukes during a dive.
Dalmatian diving with Seabreeze I in the background (They shut down when the whale surfaced within the 100 meter watch distance).
Dalmatian creating a fluke waterfall.
Split Fluke lifting her tail to dive.
Dalmatian has a very distinctly hooked dorsal fin.
Dalmatian lifting his tail to dive.
The beautiful underside of Dalmatian’s tail flukes.
Dandelion creating a fluke waterfall during a dive.
Backsplash lifting their tail to dive.
A wonderful look at Entrance Island as we passed it on the way back to Nanaimo.
This cute little harbour seal was watching us from the rocks.
A Black Oystercatcher flying in.
The Black Oystercatcher on the rocks.
A gull watching from the nearby rocky shore.
Look at all the colours in this cormorants feathers!
There was such beautiful reflections on the sandstone caves at the Gabriola Bluffs.
Greyson trying to cool off in the afternoon heat.
A Pigeon Guillemot with its sculpin catch of the day.
Taking off with dinner!
One of the Adult Bald Eagles perched in the tree nearby.