Beautiful conditions greeted us once more when we headed off for another evening adventure. With the full fleet out, we began the day by spreading out to cover as much area as possible and to maximize our chances of finding whales for the tour. This technique led to all three boats starting with slightly different groups of whales for our first encounters.

First, Kula stopped near Halibut Bank where a trio of big blows could be spotted. It was a group of humpbacks travelling together. Naturalist Aly raised her camera, and after a few quick shots, we learned that the whales were Europa (BCX0854), Malachite (BCY1463), and Pingu (BCY1110). All three of these whales are well known to us and have returned to our area seasonally to feed. As we observed them, they would arch their backs, and soon after, large, beautiful flukes would pop up above the surface. On the other side of these massive tails are unique patterns, which are the most commonly used technique to confirm humpback identities.

At nearly the same time, Keta found a different group of humpbacks very close by to Kula’s group. A few quick photos taken by Naturalist Jordan confirmed that this was Iota (BCY1466), Bond (BCX1640) and Split Fluke (BCX1068), with a few others visible off on the horizon. Split Fluke and Bond seemed to be closely associating and travelling together, with Iota a bit further away from the pair. Initially, the trio was simply travelling and fluking along, but after a few minutes, Iota dove, then breached high out of the water. Breaching is always an amazing sight, as it is one of the rarer behaviours to encounter. It takes a lot of energy to do so, and humpbacks in our area are primarily focused on conserving as much energy as possible before the breeding-season migration.

Closer to Vancouver Island, Cascadia had found a pair of whales of their own. These two were not humpbacks, though - it was a pair of orca siblings! Naturalist Hayleigh compared their dorsal fins to our ID catalogues and deduced that this was T077C and T077E:

T077C Neftali ♂ (2006)
T077E Misneach (2016)

On first encounter, the orca were simply travelling along, when suddenly, another pair of blows was spotted close by. It was another pair of humpback whales, and they did not seem impressed by the orca invading their space. A very quick encounter between the species occurred, with them riling each other up, before they passed by once more, like two ships in the night.

The two siblings were up to a lot of mischief as we got into position to see them. Dashing back and forth, they kept circling around a bright orange buoy in the water. This behaviour can be a bit shocking to witness, and playing with buoys like this had led to sightings with individuals appearing to be “entangled”. Thankfully, there was no entanglement today, only simple, playful antics. Young orcas in particular spend a large portion of their time playing, as they are very social animals. Playing helps strengthen family bonds and teaches them to work together more effectively.

After each vessel had had its own initial encounters, they rotated, with Keta and Kula coming to have a peek at the orca, and Cascadia departing the orca to check out the pair of humpback whales the duo had swum by earlier in the encounter.

A few photos later, this pair was identified as Graze (BCY0523) and Frankenstein (BCX1356). While Frankenstein briefly fluked, making them easier to identify, Graze was a different story, never once showing her fluke on the surface. Thankfully, she has a uniquely blunted dorsal fin with numerous distinctive markings, which confirm her ID. While we are unsure why, Graze is one of our typically “non-fluking” humpbacks, meaning that in most encounters with her, she never flukes. It is possible she sustained injuries that make it difficult to arch her back, resulting in a dramatic decrease in fluking compared to the average humpback whale.

After having our fill of whale time with our various sightings, the fleet split off once again in search of other wildlife. Many other species were found, including Harbour Seals snoozing the late evening away at their haulouts, many Black Oystercatchers chattering away as they soared overhead, and beautiful Surf Scoters making their way by as they continued their travels.

Every tour is a new, unique adventure, and today was a perfect reminder of that. We gently headed back into the harbour and wrapped up the day, which had been full of many wonderful wildlife encounters from the tiny bird species to the giant whales of the sea!

Photos by Marine Naturalists Aly Kohlman, Jordan Robinson, and Hayleigh Hilbert - please enjoy!