August 5, 2024, 10:30 am - Lunch, then Leaping!
With a full fleet, our three boats set out towards the Georgia Strait in hopes of finding whales. We often split up the boat routes to better our chances of finding animals. Sometimes that means that we find different animals on different boats, and today was no different! One of our open boats soon saw blows in the distance and came across our first humpback of the day. It was Wisp (BCX1333 calf 2021)! They were just hanging out, doing some deep dives, but giving us some flukes to be able to ID. We stayed with them for a little bit, but ended up leaving them to feed on their own. But our luck didn’t end there, as we soon found another humpback nearby, Graphite (BCX2077). It was clearly feeding time in the Salish Sea, as this guy was also busily doing deep dives. This is especially normal behaviour for the humpbacks here in the Salish Sea, as the summer months are the prime time for feeding. These massive baleen whales are feeding on large bait balls of smaller schooling fish, like anchovy, juvenile herring or krill, taking in large mouthfuls of water and filtering out prey against baleen plates. It’s important for the humpbacks to feed as much as they can while they are here, to prepare for their long journey back to the breeding grounds, in Hawaii or Mexico.
Meanwhile, our other boat found a well-known whale to us, Kelpie (BCY1276). Kelpie is very special to us because our company got to name them! They got their name because when they were first spotted, they were playing in the kelp and had it strewn all over their face. Kelpie was busy doing longer dives when we found them, similar to the other whales with the other boat. Definitely lunch time!
The boats split up again and each hung out with their own group of animals. One of our open boats came across a youngster just off of Gabriola pass - they were identified as Kappa’s 2022 calf (BCX0158 calf 2022). As a company, we haven’t seen this calf since 2022 when it was still travelling with its mother Kappa! This calf surprised us by breaching once suddenly. Afterwards, they began to repeatedly chin slap before switching to travelling with the occasional trumpeting. We thought the fun with them was over, but then a second humpback appeared! Kappa’s 2022 calf was then joined by Malachite (BCX1210 calf 2021). The duo began surfacing fin-to-fin with each other, fluking and feeding. These two curious youngsters took a special interest in our boat, coming to check us out for a little bit. It’s always a special treat when the whales decide to watch you! Although exciting for guests, it’s not something we encourage as curious animals are at an increased risk of boat strikes. Whenever animals change direction and come our way, we shut down our engines and wait for them to pass.
Off in a different direction, the other open boat found two humpbacks with very identifiable flukes, it was Split Fluke (BCX1068) and Zorro (BCX0380)! Both of these whales come from different populations, with Zorro coming from Hawaii and Split Fluke coming from Mexico. Both animals have very distinct flukes, so check out the photos below! Zorro has a large part of the left part of their fluke missing, although it isn’t known what caused this deformity. Split fluke has a split on her fluke, hence her name! We only spent a little bit of time with these two, because we got word of something exciting not too far away.
Nearby, Kula found Grizzly (BCY1330), who was hard to miss! This active four-year-old must have finished lunch early with the energy we saw, with pec slapping, breaching and chin slaps. Someone had lots of energy! It’s so exciting to see big surface behaviour from these guys, but can sometimes be a bit of a challenge photograph. We were lucky this guy was so breach-happy, as we managed to get a couple of pictures! Breaching is a lot of fun to watch but is also a great form of communication for the whales. All of these activities are very loud underwater, which can let other animals know they are around. At this time of year, there are usually others not too far away!
We also got to check out some other wildlife this day, rounding off the tour with Steller Sea Lions, Harbour Seals and Turkey Vultures at Stinky Rocks. A great day in the Salish Sea!
Today’s photos were taken by Marine Naturalists Cheyenne Brewster, Aly Kohlman, and Hayleigh Hilbert.
Kelpie preparing for a dive. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Kelpie’s fluke. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Grizzly’s dorsal. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Split Fluke’s fluke. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.
Zorro’s fluke. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.
Graphite’s fluke. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
Kappa’s 2022 calf’s fluke. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
Grizzly’s fluke. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Kappa’s 2022 calf getting some air! Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
Coming in for a landing! Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
Making a splash! Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
Kappa’s 2022 calf and Malachite. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
Malachite. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
Grizzly breaching. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Grizzly chin slapping. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Water cascading out of Grizzly’s mouth. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
A backdive from Grizzly. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Grizzly. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Look at that form! Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Grizzly with their pec up in the air. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Grizzly’s pecs are so pretty! Photo by Aly Kohlman.
The tip of Grizzly’s nose as he surfaced. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Grizzly with their mouth open and a pectoral out of the water! Photo by Aly Kohlman.
A mom and pup Harbour seal duo. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
A banana posing seal. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Seals perched at the tip of the rocks. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
Stinky Rocks was crowded today. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
Fighting at Stinky Rocks. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
A wake of Turkey Vultures. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
A pair of Turkey Vultures. Photo by Hayleigh Hilbert.
A Bald eagle perched on a marker. Photo by Aly Kohlman.