August 28, 2024, 10:30 am - A 75 mile round trip with a double species treat!
The sun was shining as our vessels left Nanaimo on the morning of the 28th, and off we went for our adventure! The plan was to cross the Strait and head into Howe Sound where we had a report of Orca. As we were heading that way, one of the guests spotted a blow up ahead! Shortly after we saw the blow the iconic hump of the humpback whale became visible above the surface of the water as this whale went for a dive. We were able to get an identification on this whale as they circled a small area most likely feeding.
It was Holey Moley (BCY1220)! The reason we can assume Holey Moley was feeding was that they were defecating as they continued to circle the area! Humpback poop is pretty exciting to us because when we see poop we know our Humpbacks are finding food in our waters. They need to consume 3000 to 5000 pounds of food each day. That’s a lot of krill, plankton and small schooling fish! This prey is incredibly dense in nutrients, so when the humpbacks return to the surface and let it all out the back end, it creates a nutrient pump, moving nitrogen and phosphorus from deep in the water column to the surface. Once at the surface, these nutrients are used by phytoplankton to grow and reproduce. Since Zooplankton, aka krill, feeds on this phytoplankton, it helps increase the amount of food for the humpbacks!
Besides Holey Moley, one of our boats also had one other surprise encounter with a humpback - this time it was Vanta (BCX1730)! Vanta has a nearly perfect black tail, with a single bright white dot in the middle of their two flukes. Naturalist Hayleigh got a great shot of this, check it out below!
After a poopy time with our Humpback (haha), we continued to our original destination. Howe Sound is a breathtaking place to watch whales in, the crew is always ecstatic when we know we get to go. The geography makes this location special, with towering mountains and emerald-green waters, it’s hard not to be impressed. This is Canada’s southernmost fjord and if we follow it to the end it brings us to the Squamish Harbour. It also boasts another feature: the Sea-to-Sky highway, known for some of the best views in the world. This highway runs along the fjord. Seeing all this from the boat gives you another perspective, we are small in this big world. The Orca who chose such a gorgeous location today were:
T036 Flapjack ♀ (≤1970)
T036B Tattertip ♀ (1998)
T036B1 Bhotia ♀ (2009)
T036B2 Greenfelder ♀ (2013)
T036B4 (2024)
T137A Jack ♂ (2002)
T137D Wright ♀ (2012)
These Orca were spread out and travelling along the shores of the scenic Howe Sound when we spotted them. Most likely patrolling for a meal. Our mammal-eating transient whales are often found close to shore having a peek at what they may be able to ambush! These Orca travel an average of 100 km daily, and eat around 300 pounds of prey per day, as you can imagine finding that much food probably takes up a good portion of your day! After spending time with our Orca it was time to head back as we were now fairly far from home as the Orca continued up the arm. We had a round trip of 75 nautical miles, we almost travelled as far as the Orca do in a day!
Photos from today’s tour by Naturalists Hayleigh Hilbert and Vanessa Vereschahen are available for you to view below!
Holey Moley showing one of his flukes. Photo By Hayleigh Hilbert
Flukes up! Photo By Hayleigh Hilbert
About to go for a dive. Photo By Hayleigh Hilbert
Water dripping off a fluke. Photo By Hayleigh Hilbert
The bumps on the humpback's mouth are over grown hair follicles. Photo By Hayleigh Hilbert
Holey Moley arching before going for a deep dive. Photo By Vanessa Vereschahen
The top of Holey Moley's fluke. Photo By Vanessa Vereschahen
Holey Moley diving. Photo By Vanessa Vereschahen
You can see the hole in Holey Moley's fluke! Photo By Vanessa Vereschahen
Humpback feces. Photo By Hayleigh Hilbert
Vanta fluking. Photo By Vanessa Vereschahen
T036B Tattertip and her eldest daughter T036B1 Bhotia. Photo By Hayleigh Hilbert
Beautiful back lit blows. Photo By Hayleigh Hilbert
T036B2 Greenfelder coming up for a breath. Photo By Hayleigh Hilbert
T036B1 Bhotia has a notch in her fin making her relatively easy to ID. Photo By Hayleigh Hilbert
T137A Jack and his little sister T137D Wright. Photo By Vanessa Vereschahen
Guests on Keta. Photo By Vanessa Vereschahen