We left the dock this afternoon with hopes that the humpbacks just outside the harbour were still there from this morning. We sped right out there but we did have to do a bit of circling before one of our captains spotted blows. As we approached closer we even saw the whales start to throw their tails into the air!

Luckily with all that tail-throwing, we could confirm them as Malachite (KEY0047) and Wisp (KEY0051). Malachite has been pairing up with some of the other young whales, displaying lots of energetic behaviours while doing so. Today they seemed to be very focused on each other, surfacing close together and they were diving in sync. We assume that there is a lot more to the social structure of the humpback whales than we once gave them credit for. Not too long ago, the population of these whales was so low that it was rare to see these sorts of interactions, but now it’s rare to see a humpback by itself. Even when the whales seem to be feeding instead of socializing they will sometimes work together. Although we don’t get this behaviour here, there are humpback whales that coordinate hunting in large groups, releasing a “net” of bubbles from their nostrils to encircle the fish before lunging through it together. This is known as “bubble netting” and seems to be a learned behaviour. There are other behaviours that seem to be learned in the humpback population, including amazing things like changes in their songs over time, but also concerning things like taking interest in nearby boats. Malachite is a whale that seems to have been taught early by his mother that whale-watching boats were somewhat safe, and now he can be too comfortable with them. He also seems to be teaching others this behaviour. This can be dangerous for many reasons, the boats can be noisy, it can spread disease, and it can hurt the whales through noise or propeller action. For these reasons, we try and give Malachite in particular extra space since we don’t want to hurt him, but we also don’t want to be hurt by him. Although seeming like friendly encounters, humpback whales are still massive and one pectoral fin slap on a boat may cause injury and damage.

Lucky for us, for the majority of this encounter these whales didn’t care about the presence of our boats and continued being social with each other, until the very end when they approached. Things were getting slightly worrisome so when the opportunity arose, we left them behind so as to not distract them from their everyday lives.

While one boat headed towards Entrance Island, the other got a report of orca in Stuart Channel and decided to head that way to search after their close encounter with Malachite and Wisp. The other boat found three more humpbacks having a good time. From photos of the flukes, we identified Ghost (BCX1333) and Scuba (BCY1225). Unfortunately, we didn’t get a fluke shot from the other before this boat also headed off to try and find the orca that were reported nearby.

Both boats took different routes to get there, but they joined to search together in Stuart Channel. One of our off-duty captains had seen some orca travelling here. Thanks to his intel we were quickly able to locate the two whales. It was the T030s again!

T030A Sequoia ♂ (1986)
T030C Salix ♀ (2005)

These two seemed to be finishing up a hunt as we first arrived, with some tail slaps seen in the distance by the vessel that found them. They seemed to be sharing their meal beneath the surface for the majority of the time we spent with them before they then went back into travel mode. With just two members of their pod now since the presumed passing of their mother, these two are very efficient hunters. Most of the time transient orca rely on stealth, and the fewer whales present usually the better you can sneak up on your prey. This seems to be the case with these two, as all the time we’ve spent with them in the last couple of days we haven’t seen what we think was a failed hunt. It’s amazing when you think how often these two would have to hunt. To maintain the necessary calories in a day, each of the whales must have about 500 pounds of food, so these two would be eating about 1000 pounds of food. Sometimes they might get this done in a single large hunt, but more likely they do a series of smaller ones, usually hunting a Harbour Seal. Since each seal weighs about 300 pounds max, that’s about 3-4 seals hunted each day. Although we only get a brief 1-hour-long peek into the whale’s lives, we do see hunting once in a while.

Eventually, it was time for our two boats to head home, but not without a quick look at some Harbour Seals! One boat headed over closer to Thetis Island where they saw some adorable Rock Sausages, while the other got their look at Maimi Island just a little further north. At Maimi, the boat also got a quick glimpse of a River Otter which was scampering over the rocks.

Overall it was a great day getting to see both Humpback Whales and orca. The onboard Marine Natualsits Vanessa Vereschahen and Lucy Willis captured some great photos from the day which can be viewed below.

August 17, 2024, 3:30 pm - Fun with the youngins and an orca surprise

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