You couldn’t have asked for a better day than we had today; the sun was shining overhead, there was a breeze, and the whales were all amazing!

The adventure started with our two vessels, Kula and Keta, heading out of Nanaimo Harbour into the Strait of Georgia, with all eyes on board scanning the horizon for signs of whales, eager to spot any telltale signs of wildlife in the area. Their searches took them away from each other as they spread across the northern Strait of Georgia, but neither search was in vain, as both boats had their eyes drawn to splashing whales in the distance. Both boats had found themselves some humpback whales! And active ones at that.

Let’s start with the open boat. They had searched north and then back south until they found their whale nearly in the middle of the Strait, NE of Gabriola Island. This whale was being quite active at the surface, throwing its huge tail into the air before slapping it back down with a splash. With movements like this, it didn’t take long for Marine Naturalist Val to recognize the very unique tail: it was Valiant (BCX1773)! Alongside Valiant, we also spotted another familiar fin belonging to Kelpie (BCY1276). Kelpie must not have been that interested in Valiant’s antics, as he was only spotted for a couple of surfaces before making his way off on his own. Valiant continued with some tail and pectoral fin slaps before she returned to feeding behaviour and began making more typical dives below the surface. While watching her, we noticed another set of blows off in the distance, steadily closing the space between themselves and Valiant. We decided to switch over to see who these whales were, and left Valiant to her travels.

The next two were also feeding in the area, surfacing a few times to catch their breath and filter their food before lifting their tails high into the air, propelling them into another deeper dive. Thanks to these beautiful displays of their tails, we were able to quickly identify these whales as well: Vanta (BCX1730) and Arial (BCY0767)! Once again, while we were enjoying our time with these two, more action caught our eye in the distance: a humpback's full body erupted from the water in a breach before touching down with a huge splash! We decided to head over as they continued these acrobatics, and we were delighted to see that it was once again Valiant who was doing all the activity. We enjoyed watching her amazing display of power from a distance, and she switched to slapping her pectoral fins against the surface once more for the rest of our time with her. Eventually, though, we had to leave all these humpbacks behind and continue on the adventure. For the open boat, this meant a trip to Stinky Rock, seeing the Steller Sea Lions and Harbour Seals hauled out along the rocky shoreline, as well as a majestic Bald Eagle sharing the rocks. From here, it was a beautiful trip home through the Southern Gulf Islands, drinking in the scenery along the way.

Now for the Semi-covered boat’s experience! They had done their initial search in opposite directions, heading a little south of Nanaimo before turning their bow northward, heading into the center of the strait as well, towards a small underwater mountain called Halibut Bank. This bank provides a rich feeding ground for humpback whale and is typically a great spot to see all sorts of wildlife. This time, it was the splashing of humpback whales that caught this boat's attention, as a pair was spotted breaching in the distance, throwing their massive 35-ton bodies out of the water in an impressive display of power. Getting closer, they switched up their activity to tail slapping, bringing those massive, 20-foot-across tails high out of the water before slamming them back into the surface. An even more exciting treat was that these two whales were doing this in sync, so it was twice as fun to watch! The Naturalist onboard this vessel, Jordan, was also able to expertly snap some ID photos and figured out that this was BCX2492 and Coyote (BCX2484) playing together at the surface. These two carried on with their antics for some time before the boat eventually had to leave them as well, and they headed to the White Islets for an encounter with Steller Sea Lions and Harbour Seals of their own, then made the return journey across the strait back to Nanaimo.

Although they went to different places and saw different whales, the similarities between the encounters showcased the acrobatic abilities of these Salish Sea giants perfectly. Please enjoy the photos captured throughout the tour by Marine Naturalist Val Watson (Keta) and Jordan Robinson (Kula) included below.

July 6, 2026, 10:30 AM - Partying Humpback across the Strait