The late afternoon light paired with the nice warm temperatures led to a perfect atmosphere as we set out for our evening tour. We turned northward, popping out just north of Gabriola Island in the Strait of Georgia. We have had a lot of luck around the northern side of Gabriola Island lately with whale sightings, and we were keeping our fingers crossed that luck would continue. It seems like our bets paid off, as shortly after we started searching, we spotted some blows - we had found a small group of Humpbacks!

There were four whales in total in the area, travelling in two groups of two. We snapped some photos, and using a combination of fluke and dorsal fin identification, we ID’d the first pair as Iota (BCY1466) and Lure (BCY1248), and the second pair as Spock (BCY1134) and Kelpie (BCY1276)!
While we always try to get fluke photos, as this is the easiest way to guarantee IDs, the whales don’t always cooperate. Lure was one of those whales - we had to confirm their identity by comparing their dorsals to their ID catalogue shots (found here in the Keta catalogue) and dorsal photos we have of them during another recent tour where they did fluke, confirming several scars present on the front of their dorsal.

Iota and Lure appeared to be resting at the start of our encounter, slowly meandering along. These gentle giants will often have short naps instead of longer periods of rest like humans do. They also never get a full night's sleep, as they are conscious breathers - meaning they need to think about every breath they take. Because of this, only half of their brain gets to sleep at a time. The other half is responsible for lifting the body back up to the surface, exhaling and inhaling, and slowly sinking back into the water.

After viewing our sleepy duo for a bit, we made over to Spock and Kelpie, who were diving as we approached. They were likely feeding and eating as much as they could to bulk up. It is still very early in the feeding season for our humpbacks, and many of them are still quite thin, but by the end of the summer, they will have put on thousands of pounds to prepare for their long migration. Spock and Kelpie have both been cross-matched to the Baja California Sur breeding grounds, which are over 3000 km away from our home port of Nanaimo. It’s quite the swim, and to top it off, they don’t eat again until they return to our waters the following season, meaning they go on an up to half-year fast!

After eating for a bit, Kelpie became quite active, breaching and cartwheeling away. Breaching is always a spectacular sight to behold, as it burns a ton of calories for these massive whales to get their bodies out of the water. If we are seeing breaching this early in the year, it’s a good indication that the food stocks are doing well, as the whales are already eating enough to have some energy to burn!

Once our time with these four was up, we said our goodbyes and continued along Gabriola’s shoreline. The edge of the Strait of Georgia is always teeming with various species who call this place their home, and there are several places we like to take guests to show how ‘wild’ the coast can be. One of those places is ‘Stinky Rocks’, which was the next stop for our trip!

Stinky Rocks is situated on the eastern shoreline of Valdez Island, one of the large Southern Gulf Islands on the edge of the Strait of Georgia. This area is very biodiverse, with many birds fishing and nesting as well as seals and sea lions roaming the shores. As the sun was beginning to sleep, we could see a number of our Steller Sea Lions settling in, preparing for a good night’s sleep. These pinnipeds will often huddle together in small groups to conserve heat, in a term we have lovingly dubbed “cuddle puddles”. Often, these groups will end up using each other as pillows until one of them decides it’s time for a snack, disturbing the pile and leading to all of them grumbling and growling away as they wake up.

We departed our sea lions and started the scenic venture back towards our home port, tucking into Gabriola Pass and zipping between the islands. The late evening light bathed everything in a beautiful orange as we made our way north, up through Dodd Narrows. Once through the narrows, we turned towards Harmac pulp mill, where we found a majestic California sea lion sunning himself. Most of our Californians have left our area to head back to California for their breeding season, and soon, Harmac will be devoid of sea lions, quiet and peaceful until they return once again for the fall salmon runs.

To wrap up the day, we cruised over to the edge of Gabriola Island for a bit of a bird tour. We took a peek at one of our local Eagle families and were thrilled to see one of the parents perched in the nest alongside an Eaglet! These magnificent birds of prey used to be highly endangered, but thanks to pesticide bans and conservation initiatives, they are now a thriving species once more. Past the eagle nest was our final stop of the night - the Gabriola Bluffs, a large and active cormorant rookery. Here we saw many Double-crested and Pelagic Cormorants settling into their nests for the evening, all nice and comfy. Our eagle-eyed crew also spotted another feathered friend settling in for the evening - a Pigeon Guillemot was peeking out from the rockside! While Pigeon Guillemots are a common species to see on our trips, it is not very often we see them actively nesting, so this was an extra special treat!

After we were finished being in awe of all of the avians around the Bluffs, we had to make our way back to home port, wrapping up another excellent evening out in the Salish Sea. Please enjoy these photos taken by Marine Naturalist Val Watson!

June 9, 2025, 3:30 PM - 2 pairs of humpbacks, feeding and enjoying the sunshine!