August 12, 2024, 10:30 am - Humpbacks on our doorstep!
We often say that you can find whales anywhere on the water, even in our “own backyard”, but we aren’t usually as lucky as we were today with how literal that was! After pushing off the dock our fleet turned north towards Snake Island. Not even 15 minutes off the dock and we spotted our first pair of blows!
This first pair was identified as Wisp (BCX1333 calf 2021) and “Mow” (BCY0523 calf 2023) - two young whales we have been seeing regularly on our trips recently. When we first approached they were being a bit slap-happy, with one of them tail lobbing at the surface of the water repeatedly. After a short while, this behaviour stopped and they went back to travelling side-by-side, doing shallow dives as they fed around Snake Island.
After observing these whales for a while, our keen-eyed naturalists noticed something closer to the Vancouver Island shoreline - large splashes were happening! Two of our boats, Kula and Cascadia, broke away from Wisp and Mow to go check out what was going on, while our second open boat Keta stayed with Wisp and Mow.
Once Kula and Cascadia arrived on scene they quickly learned our baby breacher was another young whale - Malachite (BCX1210 calf 2021)! We believe Malachite may have been communicating with Wisp and Mow, as the duo began being more surface active and responding to his breaches with a couple of tail lobs and cartwheels of their own. After splashing away for a bit Malachite returned to a typical Humpback routine of surfacing and travelling with the occasional fluke as he went down for deeper dives.
While it’s currently impossible for us to know exactly what they are thinking, it is believed communications via loud slaps or breaches could mean a couple of different things, including warning of potential dangers or inviting others to come over for a meal where tandem foraging may be more successful than solitary foraging.
After getting extra lucky with our super close-to-home humpbacks, we were eager to set off to try and find some more whales for the trip. Our boats headed south, entering Dodd Narrows and cruising through the Southern Gulf Islands before popping out of Gabriola Pass and into the Strait of Georgia.
Once outside in the open waters, we turned south to a favourite wildlife stop of ours - Stinky Rocks, found close to Valdez Island’s shoreline! There were several Harbour seals snoozing away in the middle of the rocks, quietly minding their own business. The Steller sea lions on the other hand were being as loud and grumbly as ever at the southern tip of the rocky shores. While most of our sea lions have left the area to return to their breeding grounds, we still have a surprisingly large colony of them calling this area home. We won’t complain - we love seeing our pinnipeds, and any extra time we get with them is always appreciated!
Once we departed our pinnipeds, our boats split up once more and once again entered search mode, scanning the waters for more blows, dorsals, or flukes. It didn’t take long for our open boat Keta to locate a pair of blows near Thrasher Rock!
These whales were another pair of humpbacks, this time travelling together but doing longer dives. While the pair wasn’t super cooperative for fluke ID shots, we were able to confirm their identities from their dorsals. These two were Crater/Mensa (BCX1565), and Smiley (BCY0995). Crater/Mensa has an exceptionally unique dorsal, with there being 3 ‘bumps’ to the tip instead of the usual single tip. Smiley’s dorsal isn’t as unique, but she does have a very hooked shape to it with a number of white scars on the right side that we cross-referenced to confirm who she was.
This pair has been travelling together for the last week or so - are they best friends? Is Crater trying to woo Smiley by taking her out for lunch? We will likely never know, but it’s always fun to speculate!
Once we said goodbye to Crater/Mensa and Smiley we began surfing along the Gabriola shoreline back towards home port. It was a cooler, moody West Coast day today and we were eager to warm up after an exciting humpback-filled day out on the Salish Sea!
Photos by Marine Naturalists Cheyenne Brewster, Aly Kohlman, and Des Poier.
“Mow” (front) and Wisp (back). Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Wisp. Photo by Des Poier.
Wisp’s dorsal. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
A big pec waving around from the duo. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
The pec wave from a different angle. Photo by Des Poier.
Half a fluke is visible here in conjunction with the large pec fin. Photo by Des Poier.
“Mow” diving. Photo by Des Poier.
Wisp’s fluke tips as they dive. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
Fluking in front of Entrance Island. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
Wisp tail lobbing. Photo by Des Poier.
The top side of Wisp’s tail as they tail lobbed. Photo by Des Poier.
Malachite tail lobbing. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Malachite with his distinct peduncle scarring. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Malachite fluking. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Malachite tail slapping. Photo by Des Poier.
Malachite’s fluke. Photo by Des Poier.
Smiley cruising through the waves. Photo by Des Poier.
Crater preparing for a dive. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
The tips of Crater’s fluke. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
One big pile of sleepy Harbour seals. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Someone was yelling away! Photo by Aly Kohlman.
The one on the right appears to have blood on its head! Is this from lunch? Or an injury? Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Blep! Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Nap time at Stinky Rocks. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
A squabble between two sea lions. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
These guys were throwing “hands” - er, flippers today! Photo by Aly Kohlman.
A lone female duck. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
A small flock of Pigeon Guillemots up on the cliffside. Photo by Des Poier.
Two Bald Eagles, one roused up. Photo by Des Poier.