The sun was shining overhead as we had two of our boats leaving Nanaimo to start their exploration of the Salish Sea, searching for whales all along the way. Today, we headed north to see if we would be able to relocate the pod of orca that we had seen this morning. Our boats had spread out to increase their chances of coming across something along their search. This technique worked perfectly, as both boats ended up finding whales on their own, the semi-covered boat finding the orca while the open boat found a pair of humpbacks travelling together.

The orca were once again the T049As, travelling south along the shoreline of the community of Nanoose Bay. We watched them for a while with the open boat joining in towards the end, before the pod went into Nanoose Bay itself, where we couldn’t follow. Nanoose Bay houses the Canadian Navy’s main base for the area, which gives them easy access to a Military Practice area that is just offshore from the area where we had found the T049As. So while the whales can go where they please, we weren’t able to follow them into this bay. That’s okay, though, since part of watching whales is respecting where they want to go, even if it means that we get a little less time with them! The following are the members of the T049As that were present today:

T049A Nan ♀ (1986)
T049A3 Nat ♂ (2011)
T049A4 Neptune ♂ (2014)
T049A5 Nebula ♀ (2017)
T049A6 Charlie II ♂ (2022)

After the T049As entered the bay, we headed back out to the humpbacks that were spotted earlier. The pair of humpbacks seemed to have gained another member, as we found Chandelle (BCX2140), Wisp (BCY1464), and Mow (BCY0523calf2023) travelling close together. At first, they seemed like they were feeding in the area, lifting their tails high before dipping below the surface for a while, and repeating that process. After a little while, though, there was a flurry of activity at the surface! Wisp seemed to be the main one who had the extra energy today, although the other two also joined in a little. Wisp was doing a lot of cartwheels, a couple of breaches, and tail slaps while we watched on in awe. The amount of energy that this surface activity takes is amazing, each breach taking about the same amount of energy as you or I to run an entire marathon! After these amazing displays of strength from the humpbacks, we continued on our way, heading towards a known seal haulout on a rock, aptly nicknamed Seal Rock! We saw a lot of wildlife here, not just the seals that we expected. As the seals lounged on the rocks, a Bald Eagle was perched at the top of the beautiful sandstone formation on the island, seemingly keeping an eye on us as we floated by. We were also serenaded by the high-pitched cries of the Black Oystercatchers that were likely nesting nearby, before we had one that flew by our boat.

Our final stop was at the Gabriola Bluffs. These towering sandstone cliffs are home to a colony of Cormorants that use the cliffs as a nesting site. There is usually a lot of activity here, with the birds flying in and out with food and nesting materials. In addition to the cormorants, the Bald Eagles made an appearance here, and we even caught one pooping! This isn’t seen very often, especially not caught at such a perfect angle! Check out the photo below to see what I mean.

Just south of where the cormorants spend their time is the Bald Eagle nest, where we saw the two young birds spending their time on the edge of the nest. In not too much more time, these big little birds should be leaving the nest to start out on their new adventure! Please enjoy all the photos captured throughout the tour by the onboard Marine Naturalists Aly Kolhman and Hayleigh Hilbert below!

July 2, 2025, 3:30 PM - A fleeting look at the T049As and some Humpback Whales near Nanoose