Winds were light and the sun came out for us as we headed out from Nanaimo once more to search for some whales. We have been spoiled with the number of humpback whales we have found not too far from our home port lately, so we decided to try our luck and see what might still be out there this afternoon.

There has been a pair of whales hanging out around Snake Island and the Husdon Rock Ecological Reserve, just outside of Nanaimo so we started the search there. It wasn’t long until we spotted them in the distance. As we got closer, we were easily able to identify Stingray (BCZ0409) who is one of the whales we thought would be likely in the pair, but it seemed that she had a new friend! Lately, she has been glued to Geometry’s side, but today it was Fader (BCY0195) who we saw next to her, with Geometry nowhere in sight. It’s very interesting to see interactions like this, especially when they are longer term than usual. Most of the time we will see whales paired up for a few hours to a few days, but Stingray and Geometery were together for 10 days through our observations. We aren’t sure why the whales tend to travel together, but it’s always nice to see them paired up like this.

The boats stuck together while watching Stingray and Fader travelling together, but they spread out once they left this pair behind to see what else they might be able to spot. Each of the boats ended up finding their own whales at this point.

Kula (the semi-covered boat) ended up finding a pair of whales first, who they IDed as Vanta (BCX1730) and Niagara (BCY0057). We didn’t stick with them for very long since they were doing long dives, and we continued to find another humpback whale in the area. This whale was Holey Moley (BCY1220)! Holey Moley was up to something really interesting today. We got to see this young whale bubble netting! In other places, like Alaska, some whales will group bubble net feed with up to 30 whales working together. We have seen a few whales laying some solo bubble nets in the area over the years, including Fader who we saw earlier in the day. Interestingly, this behaviour seems to be learned, with some whales who are known for bubble netting hanging out with some that aren’t and then that other whale will start displaying the behaviour. We aren’t sure who Holey Moley learned this from, but seeing his face coming up through the circle of bubbles he left was neat.

The other boat had its own unique experience with Yakima (BCX2182), another humpback whale that was spending time in the area. Yakima is known for getting slightly curious about the vessels. Sometimes when we are watching them, they will suddenly change direction and head towards the boat. Luckily, we know what this behaviour looks like and we know what to do when it happens. It’s really easy since we just have to shut off our engines and wait until the whale leaves us alone again. Yamika got bored easily and only surfaced a couple of times before moving on. And then we also moved on.

The next group was seen by both vessels: Thunderbolt (BCX1675 calf 2023), Notcho (BCX1700), Incognito (BCX2053), and Kappa (BCX0158). This group of four seemed to be feeding in the area, with lots of fluking and surfacing together. It was great to watch, but we were close to the end of our tour time so we had to leave them behind after a few groups of surfaces. We made a quick stop at Stinky Rocks to see the Steller Sea Lions and Harbour Seals, and then with a stop at the Gabriola Bluffs before we returned to Harbour.

The photos for today are taken by the onboard Marine Naturalists Aly Kohlman and Hayleigh Hilbert and are included below!