July 20th - T65A's, T77's and humpbacks!

Mount Baker. Photo by Alanna Vivani (10.30)

We had incredible weather for our trip today! A little wind in the harbour but beautiful and sunny the rest of the trip!
Today we started off both tours heading south through Dodd’s Narrows. This is a narrow pass between the mainland and Mudge Island at the south side of the Nanaimo Harbour. This unique area was rated as BC’s #2 diving site, home to an array of Anemones, fish, crabs and even then occasional Sea Lion.

After passing through Dodd’s our boats traveled south through the Gulf Islands looking for any signs of whales. We headed through Active pass and found a gathering of whale watching boats near the East side of Saturna Island. We found our whales! As we got on scene we could see Mount Baker, an active volcano, in the distance.
Traveling south through the strait was the T65A’s and the T77’s, right along the Washington border!

The Church, T77B, getting ready to ride a wave from a tanker. Photo by Rebeka Pirker. (10.30)

65A’s traveling through the strait. Photo by Alanna Vivani (10.30)

T65A’s matriarch, Fingers (T65A) and her youngest daughter, T65A6 born just last year. Photo by Rebeka Pirker (10.30)

the T65A’s are led by the matriarch, Fingers (T65A, 1986). She travels with her eldest son’s Ooxjaa (T65A2, 2004), Amira (T65A3, 2007), and Elsie (T65A5, 2014), and her daughter’s Ellifrit (T65A4, 2011) and T65A6 (2018) who we don’t yet have a name for!

The 65A’s were traveling with the 77’s, who are led by Asja (T77). She was with her son The Church (T77B, 2000) and Neftali (T77C, 2006) and Alcyon (T77D, 2009). We still aren’t sure on the gender of the youngest two.

After traveling for a bit south, the whales approached Patos Island and split into their 2 pods. The 77’s headed around the east side while the 65A’s doubled back and headed for the south side of Saturna.
One of our boats stayed with the 77’s and the other with the 65A’s.
Check out some of the great photos from our morning trip!

T65A’s near Patos. Photo by Alanna Vivani (10.30)

The Church (T77B). Photo by Alanna Vivani (10.30)

This family photo really shows the size difference between The Church and the rest of his family. Church is 19 years old and his dorsal fin can continue growing until he is 25! Reaching a hight of about 6 feet!

Family photo of the T77’s. Asja, Neftali, Alcyon and The Church. Photo by Alanna Vivani (10.30)

Matriarch of the T65A’s, Fingers. Photo by Rebeka Pirker. (10.30)

Baby whale tail! Little 65A6 gave us a wave! photo by Rebeka Pirker. (10.30)

T65A6 born last year. Photo by Rebeka Pirker. (10.30)

one of the 65A’s doing a barrel roll. Photo by Rebeka Pirker (10.30)

On the way back to Nanaimo in the morning, our boat Cascadia came across 2 humpbacks! They couldn’t stay to watch them for long, but our naturalist Alanna managed to get a few good pictures, and even an ID photo! This is Slate (BXC1210) and her new calf!

Slate (BCX1210) and her new calf! Photo by Alanna Vivani (10.30)

In the afternoon after passing through Dodd’s narrows we headed south and came out of Porlier Pass between Valdes Island and Galiano. Shortly after we saw a few whale watching boats and new we were close! When we got on scene we saw the tell tail blow of a humpback! We hung out with Nike, a large humpback, who was doing close passes and showing off to the boats. Nike was a real treat!

Nike Fluking before a big dive! Photo by Alanna Vivani (3.30)

Flukes! Photo by Alanna Vivani (3.30)

Our boat, Keta, headed north after our visit with Nike to try and catch up with another reported humpback. We got on scene just in time to watch her tail disappear as she dove deep, and unfortunately she never surfaced for us again before we had to head back to the harbour.

We also saw Sea lions, Harbour Seals, Cormorants and Eagles on our tour!

Harbour Seals. Photo by Alanna Vivani (10.30)

Steller Sea Lion cuddle puddle. Photo by Alanna Vivani (3.30)

Join us on our next tour! We set sail daily at 10:30 and 3:30. Tours are typically 3-4 hours long and you are guaranteed a whale sighting! (If you don’t see a whale your next tour is FREE!)

Call our office in Nanaimo at 1-250-667-5177 or book on our website!