It was another beautiful day to spend on the water, beating the heat that we were experiencing here in Nanaimo. We had all three of our vessels that headed out into the Salish Sea today. Two of these boats went south along the outside of Gabriola Island, while the other headed north, closer to an area known as Halibut Bank. Interestingly, even though they went in different directions, they ended up seeing a lot of the same behaviours out of their whales! Let’s start with the boats that went south.

There were lots of sightings from other boats in the area, so we started heading towards there. One of our boats was stopped before they could make it by a blow. It turned out to be a single humpback whale, HW-MN444737. This whale was travelling through the water when we first found them, doing short dives with high flukes, perhaps feeding. After a few surfaces with them, their behaviour seemed to change and they went into travel mode, not lifting their tail very much anymore. We decided at this point to head over to the other vessel which was spending time with Tempest (BCX0837) and her 2024 calf. The first boat didn’t end up making it all the way there though, since another blow distracted them. Tempest and her calf were being adorable though, spending time very close together, seeming to be cuddling. Humpback moms and calves have a very close connection. They spend the first year of their life travelling together migrating north to their feeding grounds, spending their summer feeding there, and then usually parting ways during or just before the migration back south.

Our semi-covered vessel very much enjoyed the time spent with these two cuddling near Thrasher Rock! The other vessel who was also trying to join in their time with these two ended up finding Holey Moley (BCY1220) first, but quickly left them behind after a couple of surfaces since we spotted some more intense action in the distance, with two whales who we determined later to be Valiant (BCX1773) and Slice (BCX1057 calf 2021)! Valiant seemed to be having a ball, breaching, chin slapping, and slapping her pectoral fins against the surface as Slice travelled along with her, not doing much at the surface. It seemed like these two were socializing and having some fun, and maybe trying to communicate with other whales in the distance, since once their fun was over Tempest and her calf seemed to respond with some pectoral fin slapping and breaching of their own! While one got to see Valiant’s show of power, the covered boat got to see the same from Tempest. It was a very good example of why we think communication could be a major reason why they will do this.

After spending time with the whales, these two boats went to Stniky Rocks for a look at the pinnipeds that were hauled out there before taking the inside passages through the Southern Gulf Islands back to Nanaimo.

While these two boats were having their adventures, the other open boat had their own adventure further north. They first came across a cow-calf pair of humpback whales. Thanks to a unique dorsal fin scar and a blurry fluke, we knew these two were Corona/Phi (BCX1416) and her 2024 calf! These two were also splashing about, with Corona herself doing a cartwheel (throwing her tail sideways out of the water) and slapping her pectoral fins against the surface of the water. While the other boats got to see a response from other whales from their surface activity, we didn’t see any more whales acting out in the area when Corona and her calf started slapping. Or maybe we were just in awe of these two whales as we watched them and just didn’t notice any others. These two continued travelling the area with the odd break at the surface for fun before it was time to leave them behind. This boat started its travels back towards Nanaimo but was quickly stopped by Crater/Mensa (BCX1565) and Smiley (BCY0995) who were travelling together in the area.

These two seemed to be feeding not too far under the surface since they weren’t lifting their tails very high out of the water when they went for their deeper dives. Since these tail lifts usually help propel them deeper in the water column, we can assume they didn’t need to go to as great of depth this time. While humpbacks are capable of diving up to 600m under the surface, they typically won’t go that deep, with most dives only being under 100m. This is great news for us since it means we get more time with them at the surface and don’t need to wait as long between surfaces for them!

Soon it was also time to leave these two to do their thing, and we finally made it back to Nanaimo. All three boats ended up stopping at the Gabriola Bluffs to get a look at the birds there and the amazing erosion before the tours concluded.

It was a great morning spent with so many humpback whales! All of the best photos from the day are included below, taken by Naturalists Aly Kohlman, Vanessa Vereschahen, and Val Watson.

August 4, 2024, 10:30 am - Throw your pecs in the air like you just don't care!

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