After a very successful morning trip, we were excited to head out and have an equally successful afternoon trip! We began our search northbound, in the direction where our orca were last seen travelling. It had been multiple hours since a confirmed sighting, so we were extra diligent in scanning as we cruised along. With no trackers or tags on them, we never know where they will show up from trip to trip!
Our fleet spread out, a tactic used to increase our sightlines as much as possible. After spreading out, our semi-covered vessel Kula spotted a pair of humpbacks along the way! Our other vessels continued onwards, hopes still high in relocating the orca. Kula stayed with the humpback duo briefly to try and get ID shots of them as they travelled along and fluked (raised their tails out of the water). We usually use the underside of their tails to identify them, as that pattern is as unique to a humpback as a fingerprint is to us. However, these two were a bit of a different case. One of the Unknowns we got a perfect, catalogue-worthy shot from their fluke… but we were unable to crossmatch them! This particular Unknown we have had a couple of times this year, and somehow, we still aren’t sure who they are. They are likely a younger whale who may not have fluked in previous encounters, as this is common for calves in their first year of life. Calves also tend to have pigment changes as they begin to age, leading to fading (or sometimes increases!) in the white pigmentation on their tail, resulting in changes to their patterns. Entanglements may also lead to scratches, nicks, notches, or large chunks missing from their flukes, which can also change their flukes’ appearances. Our Known Unknown’s friend was being a bit less cooperative, though, as we were only able to get a dorsal photo from them. Sometimes we can ID humpbacks from this, but this little one still remains a mystery as well. Shortly after we said goodbye to our mystery whales, Kula headed out to continue the search for orca!

Our fleet searched and searched until our open vessel, Cascadia, spotted them! 4 sleek bodies slicing through the waters, with one huge dorsal fin towering over the others. This was the T123s, the pod that had been down by Nanaimo earlier today:

T123 Sidney ♀ (~1985)
T123A Stanley ♂ (2000)
T123C Lucky ♀ (2012)
T123D Darcy ♀ (2018)

At this point, they had swum roughly 50 km since we last saw them, and they didn’t seem to be slowing down! The family was continuing their northward trek as we watched them, pointing towards Hornby Island. They were displaying very typical orca behaviour, just simply travelling along. When we first encountered them, they were very spread out; however, they came together and travelled as a family unit shortly after. They could have been scouting the area, searching for an easy bite to eat. Transient orca hunt similarly to wolves, where they will go after one individual all together. Spreading out is a tactic to increase their search area for prey, similarly to how our fleet spread out earlier today to find these whales! Once they were back together, the pod members were travelling tightly side-to-side, socializing and enjoying each other’s company.

We left the T123s to continue their travels and entered back into search mode. We didn’t have to look for long, though, as suddenly there was a huge splash off to the side. We made our way over to where a very splash-happy humpback was slapping their tail at the surface of the water over and over and over! Thanks to these splashes, we were quickly able to get an ID shot, and we confirmed that this was KEX0082, a relatively new whale to the area with no nickname at this time. KEX0082 continued slapping and slapping… and then suddenly, they changed it up! They began rolling around, pectoral slapping (slapping their massive side fins on the surface), causing loud thumps to ring out into the air. After that, they did what many consider the ultimate humpback behaviour: they dove down and then breached high into the air, clearing most of their body from the water, and landing with a loud ‘thump’ back down to the surface. They didn’t do this just once, though - they did it repeatedly, popping up into the air over and over! Breaching consumes a tremendous amount of calories, and to do it so frequently back-to-back suggests this whale must be feeding extremely well. In our waters, humpback diets are largely made up of krill, with occasional feasts of small schooling fish such as sandlance, anchovies, or potentially juvenile salmon as well. Consuming thousands of pounds of tiny animals can be very time-consuming, though, so these gentle giants will spend many hours of the day foraging away to fill their bellies. While scientists are not sure why these impressive whales breach, it is always absolutely incredible to witness, and we were in awe watching KEX0082 take to the skies.

As the sun was beginning to set, we had to leave our jumping whale behind and start making our way back south towards Nanaimo. We did have to make a little stop, though, as we wanted to try and find some other wildlife to visit. Our boats travelled to slightly different spots, but they had equal success finding Harbour Seals soaking up the sunset’s rays! These robust pinnipeds love to haul out on the flat, rocky islets that are scattered along our coastline. They live a very sedentary lifestyle, spending most of their day snoozing. One of these haulouts also had several Gulls wandering the shoreline, and a pair of Brant Geese - an uncommonly sighted bird species on our trips!

After seeing our seals, we continued onward, making the journey home. We headed back into the dock, wrapping up an amazing day exploring the northern waters of our region!

Please enjoy these photos taken by Marine Naturalists Desarae Poier, Jordan Robinson, and Hayleigh Hilbert!

July 20, 2025, 3:30 PM - Northbound: Double Species Feature