It was another beautiful, sunny day as we had our three vessels leaving the dock and starting their search of the Salish Sea. They headed north out of Nanaimo Harbour and into the Strait of Georgia, keeping a lookout as they went. It didn’t take long to find something amongst the waves! The tall bushy blow of the humpback whale suddenly appeared, and then two more alongside it. It seems that we found ourselves a trio of whales spending time together! Two of the whales were very easy to identify thanks to their unique dorsal fins: one was Crater/Mensa (BCX1565) while the other was Helen (KEX0077). Travelling alongside these two was another whale with a less distinct dorsal fin, but luckily, she was being very generous with her tail: we had Jackson (BCY1025)!

Jackson tends to be among the list of favourite whales for those in the industry, thanks to the stark white underside of her tail. In addition to the striking white, she also has a ton of scarring left behind by barnacles. Each humpback whale will have some of these ride-alongs, but some seem to be more prone to them than others. In addition to the Humpback Whale Acorn Barnacles that would be leaving these circular scars behind, they also have Humpback Whale Gooseneck Barnacles, which will attach themselves to the acorn barnacles. These are less likely to leave any scarring behind, but they would still be hitching a ride. The barnacles and the humpbacks have a symbiotic relationship, meaning that both of them benefit from living alongside each other. The humpbacks will have a little bit of extra defence thanks to the barnacles, with the hard calcarious plates that the animals form adding some extra impact to the humpback’s own flippers and fins. When they need to defend themselves, or sometimes their calves, from their predators, like the Transient Orca. Humpbacks will use their long pectoral fins or tail to whack the attackers, as well as try to breach on them to scare them away. With just the flesh of the flipper, this would hurt, but it would hurt a whole lot more with the attached barnacles. The barnacles, on the other hand, benefit from the ride thanks to the ability to switch from active feeding, where they are actively moving their feet through the water to catch their food from the water column, to passive feeding. With the humpback almost always on the move, they can simply let that feeding foot hang out of their shell as the water passes by, still collecting food as they go.

Even though there is a benefit, with too many barnacles, there starts to be too much drag, and this can negatively impact the whales. At this point, they would try to knock them off, usually slapping that part of their body against the surface, with the impact knocking some of them loose. Even with their strategy of getting rid of the barnacles, it’s estimated that each whale might be carrying up to 500 pounds of parasites on them at any given point in time. You’ll notice these barnacles on all of the whale’s tails that are in the photos below, especially on the corners of the tail flukes. Crater also has some on the ventral surface of his tail, although he tends not to show off that tail as often as Jackson does!

After spending our time with this trio, we continued our search for wildlife, with a quick stop at a small rocky outcrop not too far from where we had the whales. This little islet is officially unnamed, although we have given it a nickname ourselves: Seal Rock. You are probably able to guess what we spotted here: a whole lot of Harbour Seals! Harbour Seals are an important part of our ecosystem, playing a role as both predator and prey. They are fish eaters for the most part and very opportunistic ones. They aren’t very picky about what they eat, with species including capelin, herring, and sandlance in our area. During the fall, when the salmon are preparing to run, they will also become an important part of their diet. It was (and sometimes still is) thought that they are one of the reasons that the salmon population is declining in the area, but studies have disproved this, as their generalistic diet of fish usually means more of a removal of the salmon’s fish predators than they are eating salmon themselves. We often see them sunning themselves on the rocks like this, usually grouped up to help them have some extra protection from their predators.

After our time spent with the seals, we ended up spotting another humpback whale, this time travelling alone. Portrait (BCY1223) seemed to be feeding in the area, lifting their tail high out of the water before dipping below the surface again for a few minutes. It makes sense that this is what we see the whales doing most frequently, as this is their feeding ground. Anywhere between 18-20 hours of their day is thought to be spend feeding, building up a substantial fat reserve that they will use as energy as they travel south to their breeding/calving grounds once again. We enjoyed our time with Portrait before eventually leaving them as well, heading back towards Nanaimo.

There was one more stop for us along the way, though, at a beautiful spot right across Northumberland Channel from our home port: the Gabriola Bluffs! We are just getting towards the end of the nesting season for the cormorants that typically use this area, so there were only a few of them left spending time on these sandstone cliffs. In addition to the cormorants, another feathered friend was spending some time here: a Great Blue Heron! It flew across our bow, landing gracefully on the rocks before we continued home. It was an exciting end to the day!

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

August 27, 2025, 3:30 PM - Humpbacks spending time near Gabriola Island