We finally had a bit of a break from the baking summer sun today as the clouds rolled over and the temperature cooled down. This led to the day being very moody and West Coast-y, with lots of fog rolling in amongst the trees on the islands. We were excited to start our day’s adventures as our full fleet of vessels departed from the dock.
We made our way southbound, aiming towards Porlier Pass where there have been a number of Humpback sightings in the past week. We popped out into the Strait, started making our way down Galiano Island’s shoreline, and shortly after found our first humpback of the day! This little individual was very elusive, doing very deep dives and changing direction a lot. This is pretty common right now as our humpbacks are busily feeding as much as they can to build up their fat reserves in preparation for the breeding ground migration.
This whale was identified as CRC-21176 - they are a new-to-us whale with only a couple of sightings in BC previously! Because they are new to the area, this whale does not have a BC number yet. They will likely get a BC designation in the next year or two if they continue to be seen here. After travelling with our tricky little humpback for a while our boats broke off and spread out in search of other whales.

After searching for a bit we caught wind of a pair of humpbacks a bit further out into the Strait. We turned and made our way over, where we were greeted by a duo of humpbacks travelling side-by-side.
At first, we thought these two were going to be very similar to CRC-21176 - a little sleepy, and busy snacking away. However, after a bit of time with them, they began breaching, pectoral slapping, and cartwheeling! We can never truly predict what behaviours we will observe out on the water any given day, so seeing these gentle giants excited and acrobatic is always awe-inspiring!
Once we were able to snap some photos of their dorsals and flukes, this pair was identified as Windy (BCY0893), and Ghost (BCX1333). This is an interesting duo as Windy is a known Male and Ghost is a known Female. Was Windy trying to woo Ghost in preparation for the mating season this fall? While we may never know, we do know these two were quite excited either way.
Most of the time when we see our humpbacks we do not know what their gender is. This is because humpbacks do not show any significant sexual dimorphism - this means the males and females look nearly identical. They generally remain an Unknown gender unless they are spotted with a calf (which is when we assume they are female), are able to be seen breeding in the breeding grounds, or if they breach or tail lob at the perfect angle. That last point may seem a bit odd - but it’s because there is ONE feature on a humpback’s body that does differentiate the males from the females. This feature is known as the Hemispherical Lobe. It is a grapefruit-sized bump located on the underside of the peduncle of the humpback. At this time, scientists aren’t quite sure what this bump does, but we do know that only the Females have it!
For Ghost though, she was identified as Female thanks to her first sighting with a calf in 2019. She has since brought back two more calves - Wisp in 2021, and Specter in 2023. Wisp and Specter are two other whales we have seen repeatedly on our trips this year - we are excited to continue watching Ghost’s family line grow and hopefully, we will get to see her as a grandmother or even a great-grandmother in the future!

Sadly, we eventually had to say goodbye to our breachapalooza and had to start making our way back towards Nanaimo - we did, however, make a couple more wildlife stops along the way first! Some of our boats stopped at Stinky Rocks where our Harbour Seals and Steller sea lions like to haul out at. As per usual, the sea lions were growling and belching away, and the seals were quietly napping. Once we left our pinnipeds we started weaving between the gulf islands and headed north, crossing Dodd Narrows. One of our boats made one last pit stop at the Gabriola Bluffs to see our Cormorant nursery, and today they found something extra special - Grayson, our resident Bald Eagle chick, was spotted eating nearby! This eaglet has finally left the nest and is now learning the ways of the world, so to see them eating all by themselves is amazing! We hope Grayson continues to thrive and has a great life as he grows and leaves his natal nesting area.

Please enjoy today’s photos taken by Marine Naturalists Cheyenne Brewster, Aly Kohlman, and Des Poier!

July 29, 2024, 10:30 am - Breaching with Ghost and Windy, and another shy Humpback too

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