Another beautiful day greeted us as we had our semi-covered boat, Kula, leaving the dock this afternoon. Calm winds led to flat waters as we found ourselves gliding over the glassy conditions, our eyes peeled for any whales that might be spending time in the area. We finally caught sight of one, and the blow from a humpback whale was on the horizon!

We headed over to get a closer look. It turned out to be two humpbacks travelling together: Poseidon (BCX2078) and Seltzer (BCY1274)! These two were associated closely together, breaking the surface of the water, breathing, and arching their backs in perfect unison each time we saw them. This tends to occur when whales are travelling together, since it allows them to stay in close contact, as they are likely continuing to interact beneath the waves. While it’s not been 100% determined why they would be associating like this, there are a few theories:

They might be able to feed more efficiently together than they can alone. Cooperative feeding is something that the humpbacks are well known for, sometimes on an even larger scale, with up to 30 whales working together to concentrate their food. Here, the two whale are likely working together in similar ways, working to concentrate their food before lunging through.
It could be for safety in numbers! More whales being around likely means that they are less likely to be harassed by their predator, the transient orca. Although adult humpbacks are no longer susceptible to predation, that doesn’t stop the two species from having interactions now and then!
Socalizing! While the humpbacks aren’t as well known for their social behaviour as some other species, we are seeing more and more of these interactions as their population recovers. Socialization is likely playing a role in these interactions more than we once thought.

More likely than not, it’s a combination of all of these main theories that drives humpback associations! And no matter why they are doing it, we love seeing these gentle giants travelling together.

This wasn’t the end of our time with whales for the day, though, as we came across another group after leaving. This time, there were four humpbacks in the same area: Split Fluke (BCX1068) with her 2025 calf, Fishbone (BCY1474) and Slice (BCX2487). These whales seemed to be done with feeding for the time being and were a bit more focused on socializing and playfulness as we watched them breach fully out of the water, throw their tails around in cartwheels and tail lobes, all while being cooperative enough to show off their tail, allowing us to get those IDs. It’s always a fantastic sight to see an active humpback, and it usually leaves you with a feeling of awe, thinking about how gracefully they can throw their massive bodies around like that. Split Fluke is the only fully grown individual present here, so she would weigh around 30 tonnes and be up to 17 meters in length! Yet we still see her throwing her mass around and making it look effortless! They really are amazing creatures.

Finally, after watching the acrobatic group, we had one final whale to see for the afternoon: Dalmatian (BCY0994)! Dalmatian also seemed to have some extra energy, as we also saw him do a lovely cartwheel between his time spent feeding. Interestingly, Dalmatian and Split fluke are brother and sister! Split Fluke was born in 2006, while Dalmatian was born in 2015. Their mother, Heather (BCY0160), hasn’t had a sighting since 2020, meaning she has likely passed away. Before 2020, we would see her every single year! We still get to see her line continue, though, as her kids keep returning to the same area as well.

It was great spending all this time with our various humpback whales today, as well as the other wildlife. Aly Kohlman, the onboard Marine Naturalist, captured some great photos of all of them, which are available below.

August 29, 2025, 3:30 PM - Spending time with Humpbacks in the Strait of Georgia