It was a lovely day as Kula, our semi-covered boat pushed off the dock. This break in the clouds was perfect as we started searching the beautiful Salish Sea for wildlife. We headed south first, through Northumberland Channel, Dodd Narrows, and all the way south in Trincomali Channel. Weaving our way through the islands we had our eyes peeled.

There was lots of wildlife along the way, including many Bald Eagles perched in the treetops, keeping an eye on the waters below, hoping for a fish to get too close to the surface and become lunch. Watching these iconic animals sitting in the foggy trees was amazing, even after we passed nearly 10 of them on the way!

As we continued south, something caught the eye of one of the ride-along staff members onboard: a blow! It seems we found ourselves a whale! Much to our surprise, it was a young humpback whale that we had just stumbled across. This time of year, the humpbacks aren’t very abundant, given that it’s their breeding season. Breeding and calving for the humpbacks occurs down south, in either Hawaii, Mexico, or in South America. They make this yearly migration in the fall/winter and we typically see them return in the late spring/early summer, although the exact timing of this is unique to each whale.

This whale was being super cooperative, doing relatively short dives beneath the surface before emerging for a few breaths and diving back down to the depths, lifting it’s tail high in the air as it went. Usually, once we see the bottom side of the tail and snap a photo of it we will know who the whale is by cross matching it to one of the local photo ID catalogues available but after searching on the boat, and for hours afterwards, we had no match! Our best guess is that this is a young whale, likely one or two years old, that we don’t have a tail match for since calves don’t usually show their tails off while they are still young.

Hopefully, as time goes on, we will find a match and know who this whale is! If we do, we will be sure to update it here!

After spending time with this very hungry humpback, we left it to its diving and continued a little further south to Active Pass. Here we were greeted by the growling and barking of both the Steller Sea Lions and the California Sea Lions that were hauled out along the waters edge. This spot is popular for not just sea lions, but birds since the currents generated by the narrow area and changing tides cause mixing in the water column. This mixing not only bring food back up to the surface, but sometimes fish along with it that the seals and sea lions might be taking advantage of. It also creates a great environment for the growth of plankton. Both Phytoplankton and Zooplankton would be present here, and we got to see small gulls known as Boneparte’s Gulls in the currents feeding on those micro-organisms.

While in Active Pass transiting from the waters within the Southern Gulf Islands to the open water of the Strait of Georgia, we ended up spotting the smaller of the pinniped species - Harbour Seals- hauled out nearby! We made a quick stop with the adorable rock sausages before continuing our search. We followed the east side of Galiano back up to Porlier Pass where we saw two more giant haul outs of sea lions, and a pair of Bald Eagles posing nicely on the haul-out with them. After snapping a couple of quick photos we continued all the way back north, until we found ourselves back in the Harbour.

It was a great day spent on the water with all of our amazing wildlife sightings, and we are especially excited about the little mystery whale spotted! Please enjoy all of the photos from the day captured by the onboard Marine Naturalist Vanessa Vereschahen and ride-along crew member Val Watson!

Humpback Whale Diving — The unique dorsal fin of the mystery humpback. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

That bump at the front of the whale is it’s nostrils! Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Humpback Whale Tail Waterfall Nanaimo — A fluke waterfall from the mystery whale. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

The underside of the whales tail. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Humpback Whale Tail Nanaimo — A photo like this is perfect for using to identify them! Photo by Val Watson.

You can see the skin issues that this young whale has. Photo by Val Watson.

The mystery humpback diving with the sandstone shoreline of Galiano Island behind it. Photo by Val Watson.

Bonaparte's gulls feeding Active Pass — Boneparte’s gulls picking at the plankton in the water. Photo by Val Watson.

Curious Steller Sea Lions watching us from the water. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

A large male Steller Sea Lion scratching an itch. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Cormorants and gulls sharing this rocky outcrop. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Sea Lions roughhousing in the water. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Sea Lions fighting Active Pass — Two California Sea Lions fighting on the outskirts of a group of Steller Sea Lions. Photo by Val Watson.

Bald Eagle Juvenile Nanaimo — A Juvenile Bald Eagle watching over the water from above the noisy Sea Lions. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

A gull in flight. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

A sleepy California Sea Lion on the bed of seaweed. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Harbour Seals watching us watching them. Photo by Val Watson.

Harbour Seal Active Pass — This one is moving into the water with a motion called Galumphing! Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

A perfect pose from a Harbour Seal. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

The spots on their fur helps them blend in to the rocks around them. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

A big colony of Steller Sea Lions on Canoe Islet. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Bald Eagle Pair Nanaimo — A pair of Bald Eagles sharing the rocks with the Sea Lions. Photo by Val Watson.

Bald Eagle in Flight with Sea Lions, Nanaimo — We figured they didn’t want to be seen together and that’s why they took off! Photo by Val Watson.

February 23, 2025 - Our first Humpback of the year!