Boarding onto Keta and Kula, Naturalists Des and Hayleigh chatted with guests on board about what to keep an eye out for. Giant flukes, wiggly dorsal fins, and big bushy blows are the most common to see signs of whales. Armed with that knowledge, we eagerly peeked around as we set off. With none of the whales equipped with trackers or tags, we never really knew where the day would take us!

Exploring through the Southern Gulf Islands, we made our way southbound. It didn’t take long for us to find our first sighting of the day - two orca skirting the shoreline of Wallace Island. A few quick photos confirmed that this was the T037As:

T037A Volker ♀ (1994)
T037A2 Inky ♂ (2009)

It appeared that it was lunchtime for the duo as we got into position. Soon after arriving, a small silver head surfaced ahead of the orca. It was a Harbour Seal. It can always be a bit sombre to watch a hunt, but it's important to remember that all animals need to eat.

T037A Volker and T037A2 Inky started zipping back and forth as they pursued the seal. At one point, Volker poked her head out of the water and peered around. She then locked onto the seal before the chase began. Inky kept rolling around excitedly as the hunt continued, a good reminder of how much male orca rely on their mothers to sustain themselves.

After the final strike, the pair came together and shared the meal. After enjoying their meal, they flipped upside down and began tail slapping away. They appeared to be celebrating after filling their bellies. Orca are very social creatures, and meals are one of the best opportunities to do it.

After our time with the two was up, we headed out again. Our journey took us out to Stinky Rocks, the cheekily nicknamed haul-out where many of our pinnipeds reside. The Harbour Seals were busy striking all kinds of interesting poses when we arrived, stretching and yawning. A large brown mass of furry bodies was seen on the taller rocks, pushing each other around. These were Steller Sea Lions, and they were spending their afternoon fighting each other for the best nap spots.

Wrapping up our time at Stinky Rocks, we set out to try and find the other commonly spotted type of whale in our area - humpback whales. The Strait of Georgia has had many sightings of them recently, and we were eager to try our luck at finding some of our own. Heading up and out into the open waters of the Strait, we started scanning. Soon after, we spotted two humpbacks in the surf, diving and fluking away.

Cameras came up, and we began working away on IDs. At first, we compared dorsal fins, but after a couple of surfaces we got nice, clear photos of the underside of both individuals’ flukes. We confirmed this pair to be Manta (BCZ0155) and Kappa (BCX0158). Manta appeared to be following closely behind Kappa, seemingly pursuing her. Kappa, on the other hand, seemed to be busy doing other ‘business’. She would surface, then fluke, and as she went down, a large red-brown blob would form behind her. This can look quite shocking at first, as it is a very similar colour to blood, but it was nothing to be concerned about. Kappa was simply defecating away! Humpback feces are often red to brown in colour in our area, and that is thanks to their diet. They primarily feed on krill, a small crustacean found plentiful in our seas. Each humpback needs to eat thousands of pounds of food every day, so foraging takes up a huge portion of an individual’s day-to-day activity.

We concluded our time with the two, and soon after, it was time to head back to the harbour. We splashed our way back, and after a bit more travelling, Nanaimo was once more in view. It had been a fantastic time with two equally interesting (yet different) species, with many opportunities to take in the beauty of the Salish Sea while viewing many of the inhabitants that call the area home.

Please enjoy these photos taken by Marine Naturalists Des Poier and Hayleigh Hilbert!

September 8, 2026 - Having a feast with the T037As (and a few humpbacks too)