July 30, 2024, 10:30 am - Humpback Soup off of Gabriola Island

It was another moody West Coast day as we had three of our boats leaving Nanaimo in search of whales. We sent two of our vessels over the top of Gabriola Island, directly into the Strait of Georgia to see what they might be able to find there, while the third headed south to search a bit into the Southern Gulf islands before joining the others. One of the boats in the Strait ended up successful, spotting evidence of whales in the distance: Blows! As we approached closer we started the see the longer bodies of humpback whales coming out of the water.

These two whales seemed like they were likely resting while we watched them. When whales sleep it’s not like how we humans do since each breath they take is a conscious effort. They think about flexing the muscles each time they surface, meaning that if their whole brain was resting they wouldn’t be breathing and would suffocate. So avoiding that, they will only turn off half their brain at a time in what’s known as Unihemispheric sleep. This allows half of the brain to rest, while the other half worries about breathing, moving, and keeping an eye out for danger.

With resting whales, they aren’t lifting their tails up out of the water much, if at all, so getting an ID for them can be tricky. There are a few whales with very distinct dorsal fins that can be identified without photos of their tails, but it is much less common. Luckily for us, one of these whales does have a distinct scar in their dorsal fin that we were able to match with Wisp (KEY0051) and the other we are fairly confident is Arial (BCY0767). We watched this sleepy duo for a while, enjoying the amount of time we got to spend with them at the surface (another benefit of watching them sleep), before continuing to search the area for other wildlife.

One boat was able to come across another humpback whale, Graphite (BCX2077) who was swimming slowly in the area, and then started rolling in the water. He lifted up one of his potentially 5-meter-long pectoral fins into the air and held it there in a strange manner. Typically, when we see pectoral fins they are slapping them onto the water to make some noise and have some fun, but that’s not what Graphite was doing this time. He just was lifting it gently out of the water. It was pretty interesting to watch!

The other boats were spending some time at Stinky Rocks, watching the Seals and Sea Lions sunning themselves on the rocks, when they heard about Graphite and started to head in that direction, but one was stopped along the way by some splashing in the distance. It seemed like a humpback was getting active, so we headed over that way, as is often the case, by the time we arrived their excess energy had run out, so they were back to normal travelling and feeding. This did mean that we were able to get a photo and an ID for Velvet (BCY1186). We left Velvet to it, and all three boats ended up in the same place, watching a pair of humpbacks who were awake this time! These two seemed to be feeding in the area, coming to the surface a few times to breathe before returning to the depths to find their food. The humpbacks in the Salish Sea are mostly after two things: small schooling fish and larger plankton, like Krill.

These two were quickly IDed thanks to their unique dorsal fins and tail flukes as Split Fluke (BCX1068) and Crater/Mensa (BCX1565). These two were tightly travelling together when they were at the surface and were likely close together under the surface as well. Short-term associations like this are becoming quite common to see with the humpback whales, and can last minutes, hours, days, or sometimes longer. For once being thought to be solitary, it’s very interesting to see so much in the way of social behaviour from the whales!

Finally, it was time to return to Nanaimo (with the last vessel making its stop at Stinky Rocks for some other wildlife). The onboard Marine Naturalists Des Poier, Hayleigh Hilbert, and Vanessa Vereschahen this day captured some amazing photos from the day which can all be viewed below!

Wisp’s dorsal fin in front of Arial as the surface together. Photo by Des Poier.

The dorsal fin belonging who we think is Arial. Photo by Des Poier.

Our open boat watching Wisp. Photo by Des Poier.

Guests on Kula watching the humpbacks. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Arial’s dorsal fin. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.

You can see some scarring on the trailing edge of Arial’s dorsal fin. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.

This white scar on Graphite’s dorsal fin makes him easy to ID. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.

Graphite lifting his tail flukes as he dives. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.

Graphite lifting his pectoral fin out of the water, with the tip of his tail flukes just visible above the water as well. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.

If you look closely at Graphite’s pectoral fin, you can see a bundle of Whale Lice close to the waves. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.

Graphite arching his back for a dive. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.

The underside of Graphite’s tail fluke, Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.

The underside of Velvet’s tail flukes as they go to dive. Photo by Des Poier.

Velvet creating a fluke waterfall as they dive. Photo by Des Poier.

Another look at the unique patterns on Velvet’s tail. Photo by Des Poier.

The underside of Craters tail as he dives. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.

This unique dorsal belongs to Crater, and is what his nickname comes from. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.

Split Fluke’s dorsal fin as she does for a dive. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.

A fluke waterfall by Split Fluke. You can see the damage to her left tail fluke that gives her nickname. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.

A look at Split Fluke’s tail. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

It’s surprising how many sea lions we still have at Stinky! Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.

Some lazy Sea Lions resting on the rocks. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.

Curious Sea Lions watching us from the water. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.

Steller Sea Lions resting at Stinky Rocks. Photo by Des Poier.

A Steller Sea Lion looking majestic in the waves. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

A mom and a pup Harbour Seal on the rocks. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Some Harbour Seals on the rocks near Stinky. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.

A fly by from a gull. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

A gull resting on the Gabriola Bluffs. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.

Cheeky look at the Pigeon Guillemot. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.

Pigeon Guillemot taking flight! Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.

A Turkey Vulture soaring overhead. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.

Baby gulls are growing up so fast! Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.