Another beautiful West Coast day fuelled our excitement as the full fleet headed out into the Strait. The boats spread out, searching along Nanaimo’s northern coastline after catching word of an orca sighting earlier in the day in the area. While shore sightings can be beneficial, it is always like a game of Cat and Mouse when you start searching for yourself, as all our whales are free of trackers and tags and can travel large distances in a short period of time, meaning they can be in a totally different area once we get out there and start our adventure!

We scanned and scanned, searching the horizon for signs of whales, until we were able to locate them close to shore off of Neck Point. Here, three larger male dorsal fins travelled along, occasionally surfacing together as they went. We began the task of identifying the individuals by using a combination of photos of their dorsal fins, their saddle patches, and their eyepatches. We confirmed that we were travelling with the T060 brother, Onca and Lynx, who have been in the area fairly frequently lately. With them was a new friend, T069E Kodiak:

These three were doing the most classic of orca behaviours as we were observing them today: travelling. These massive apex predators are always on the move, travelling from place to place in search of prey. To keep their weight up, these males have to eat upwards of 500 lbs. of food every day. When the average Harbour Seal weighs around 150-190 lbs., that means these three need to take down an impressive 7 to 9 seals every single day! Thankfully, we have a very healthy population of Harbour Seals, so there are many hunting opportunities for them. As stealth ambush predators, these chunky whales will hunt silently, rushing in after a single seal together, similarly to wolves. When not hunting, orca tend to travel along relatively slowly, conserving as much energy as possible to reduce energy expenditure.

Once we said goodbye to the orca, we continued our journey further out into the Strait of Georgia in search of our other commonly spotted whale species, the Humpback. With our humpbacks, we typically search for their blows or flukes (tails) instead of their dorsal fins, because they are quite short compared to the towering dorsals of the male orca. Once again, the fleet spread out, covering a larger area and increasing the likelihood of success. This spread caused our boats to locate two different humpback sightings, one being with Kula and one being with Cascadia. Keta was closer to Cascadia at this time, so they made their way over to watch alongside them.

Our humpbacks are identified by the underside of their fluke patterns, which are as unique to them as fingerprints are to us. Two of these whales were quite cooperative, whereas one was a bit less so. Keta and Cascadia’s solo humpback was identified as Malachite (BCY1463), the 2021 calf of Slate (BCX1210). Malachite returns to our area yearly now, retaining his natal knowledge about the feeding grounds Slate taught him about as a calf. Using resources like Happywhale, we have also been able to cross-match Malachite to the Mexico breeding grounds, which is likely the breeding grounds Slate taught him about as well.

Kula’s pair was being semi-cooperative. One of the humpbacks was fluking, and they were identified as Crackle (BCY1227), the 2019 calf of Graze (BCY0523). Their friend was being a bit trickier, as they were not actively fluking. However, their dorsal fin was unique enough that after some cross-referencing, they were identified as Raptor’s 2024 calf (BCY0660 calf 2024). This calf is in their first year of life, travelling solo, without their mother’s guidance. This is always exciting, as we love to watch the young ones grow and develop their friendships and routines.

The whales were not the only wildlife we saw on our adventures, though! We headed onwards and went over to the ODAS buoy, where several of our Steller Sea Lions were busy snoozing along. We also located a bob of Harbour Seals balancing high up on the rocks. Besides the pinnipeds, we also headed over to the Gabriola Bluffs to see our Cormorants wandering along the edges of the rocks. These birds are wrapping up their nesting season now, and soon, there will not be many of them around until next year, so for now we are enjoying our last glimpses at this bustling rocky formation.

Please enjoy these photos by Marine Naturalists Val Watson, Vanessa Vereschahen, and Aly Kohlman.

September 3, 2025, 10:30 AM - The Bachelor Trio continues