It was turning out to be a beautiful day for whale watching as we had all three of our boats leaving the docks on August 27th, heading out into the Strait of Georgia to see what might be waiting for us today. We headed into the open waters, keeping our eyes peeled for either the tall, black dorsal fins of the orca or the tall, bushy blows of the humpback whales. It was those blows that we spotted first, and two of our boats shared one sighting while the other ended up coming across a humpback of their own.

The first sighting was a group of two, one of which we were easily able to identify while on scene, thanks to the beautiful speckled underside of their tail. It was Dalmatian (BCY0994)! Dalmatian was travelling with another smaller individual that wasn’t being as cooperative with their tail, but upon closer inspection of our photos back in the office, we were able to identify Butterfly Wings (BCX2212). Unfortunately, Butterfly Wings has suffered a severe injury this year, with one side of their tail shredded after a too-close encounter with a boat propeller. This injury is likely why we didn’t see them lifting their tail during this encounter. Still, luckily, their dorsal fin was distinct enough for us to be able to confirm them as Dalmatian’s travel companion. Dalmatian was up to something pretty interesting while we were watching their pair, an uncommon behaviour known as snaking! Snaking is when a humpback whale repeatedly moves their rostrum, or face, out of the water while arching their back. This unique behaviour is thought to assist the whale in filtering through their food. Not all whales will do this, though, but Dalmatian is one of the few individuals where we have seen this before. Maybe he was teaching the younger Butterfly Wings this technique? I guess time will tell!

At the same time that two of the boats were watching Dalmatians' snaking antics, the other boat encountered another fascinating individual: Scuttle (BCX1795)! Scuttle has also had a bit of a hard time in life, but is another great example of humpback whale resiliency. You will notice, upon examining his tail, that some very distinct white markings run parallel to each other. These lines are called Rake Marks and are left behind by orca attacks! The marks are from the teeth of the orca scraping down the skin of the humpback whale as they attempt to drown them during a hunt. While a fully grown humpback whale would be too large a target for a pod of orca, they are susceptible to predation while they are calves. Luckily, Mom will fight hard to save her calf, as Scuttle’s mom must have done for him. In addition to his hardships as a calf, Scuttle must have also had an incident with a boat more recently, as we spotted some propeller scarring on his dorsal surface. These scars are very distinct, caused by the propeller rotating as the whale and boat continue to move past each other. On the fleshy dorsal surface of the whale, the damage usually heals quickly, leaving minimal scarring. Still, in the rare cases that it hits a more sensitive area, like with Butterfly Wings, those injuries will have a much longer-lasting effect. Even with intense injuries, the whales have a strong fighting spirit and will likely survive, especially given the rapid healing of both injuries.

While ship-strike injuries are more common in Humpback Whales due to their large size and less predictable surfacing, they can also occur with the other main species we see: the orca! Our next sighting was of a great example of this, a T-party that was found with one very special member: Chainsaw! Similar to what was described with the humpbacks, it’s thought that Chainsaw’s iconic dorsal fin notches likely came from a boat propeller when he was younger, which got stretched out as he grew. In addition to Whidbey II and Chainsaw, the T100s and T065A5 were here travelling together.

Since orca are much more intelligent than humpback whales, it’s quite rare for them to get hit by boats or get entangled, since they are much more aware of their environment. Even so, as mentioned with Chainsaw, it can happen. Another member of this party is an exception to this, as Indy has had to be disentangled before! Instead of being caught unaware, though, Indy gets himself in trouble because of his playful and carefree nature. He was actually playing around with the prawn trap line in question when he made a wrong move and got it wrapped around himself. Luckily, there wasn’t much, if any, lasting damage to this little guy. We got to watch as all of these well-known animals travelled together, or at least in the same direction, as the pods mixed up into a few different groups. The large males, Laurel and Chainsaw, were together, Indy was travelling with Estrella, and the Matriarchs were spending their time together. These sorts of social dynamics are always fascinating to see in play like this! We enjoyed the time spent with the orca until it was time to leave them to it, and we continued to our next stop: Stinky Rock and the Gabriola Reef! Stinky was the hotspot for Sea Lion activity earlier in the year, but as the summer progressed, we noticed a shift from the rocky shoreline to a nearby Buoy, marking the shallows of the Gabriola Reef. Along with this change, we noticed it coincided with an increase in the number of pleasure boats interacting with the Sea Lion Colony, getting too close and often scaring them into the water. Could this be another example of human impact on one of our marine mammals? Although these sorts of interactions don’t leave a physical scar on the animals, they can still be just as harmful to them. This is why we are always very mindful of our approach speeds and distances around all the animals we see during our tours, since we want to keep our impact on them as low as possible! We enjoyed seeing them on the buoy, as well as observing the Harbour Seals on the rocks, which seemed to be enjoying the free real estate that the Sea Lions' changing location had opened up.

Throughout the trip, the onboard Marine Naturalists Vanessa Vereschahen, Aly Kohlman, and Hayleigh Hilbert captured some amazing photos, all of the best of which are included below!

August 27, 2025, 10:30 AM - A handful of Humpbacks and a T-party to boot!

Dalmatian and Butterfly Wings

Scutttle

T-party!

Other Wildlife