It was another beautiful day to spend on the Salish Sea. The sun was shining overhead, the waters were calm, and we were ready to start our adventure. Unlike most days on the water, we had a sense of where we were headed that day. We heard from another whale-watching boat that they had found a pod of orcas travelling north of Nanaimo, around Nanoose Bay, so we decided to head that way. By the time we got there, the other boat had left, so we resumed the search. We scanned the water for the orca, looking for their distinct black dorsal fins rising in the water or the blow of their exhale at the surface.

Two of our boats had success at about the same time. One found the pod of orcas we were hoping to reacquire, while the other spotted the tall, bushy blows of humpback whales travelling together near Winchelsea Island.

The boat with the humpbacks travelled alongside these whales as they appeared to be doing shallow feeding dives, surfacing steadily but not lifting their tails. By looking at the dorsal fins and seeing them later in the day, we know these two humpbacks were Ulli (BCY0946calf2024) and Commander (BCY1541). This boat didn’t stay long with these whales before heading over to join the other vessels that had spotted the pod of orcas.

This pod turned out to be the T041s, a group of 5 whales led by their Matriarch, Lawrie.

T041 Lawrie ♀ (~1966)
T041A Jemison ♀ (1988)
T041A2 Tree (2013)
T041A3 Mola (2018)
T041A4 Cedar (2025)

When we first found these whales, it looked like they were finishing a hunt, with lots of directional changes and some gulls moving in to help with cleanup. It’s not always easy to tell when a pod of orcas is hunting, especially when it happens as quickly as it did today. Most of the time we spot the orca, they will be steadily travelling in one direction, getting from point a to point b. The lack of steady forward momentum is one clue they might be working on a meal. They seemed to have their snack and then continued travelling north. They picked up speed as they continued on their travels, following the shoreline of Nanoose Bay and continuing up island from there. It was great watching this pod move as a unit, and we eventually left them to their travels and headed out to see what other whales and wildlife we might spot.

The wildlife sightings after the orca were plentiful, with many different groups of humpbacks feeding in the area. We spotted a group of three travelling together close to Ballenus Island: Nova (BCY1178), Kelpie (BCY1276), and CRC-23351; a group of three feeding together off of Rathtrevor Beach, Fukurō (BCY1473), Octo (BCX1920), and BCY0523calf2025; a trio of whales feeding in a similar area, Mathematician (BCY0785), Nalu (BCY1072) and Vanta (BCX1730); and then further out in the Strait was another trio of whales travelling together: Ghost (BCX1333), BCX1333calf2026, Strike (BCX1675). Most of these whales seemed to be feeding while we watched them, with other behaviours mixed in throughout when they had extra energy from all that food.

Humpbacks are here in BC specifically to feed over the summer and build the fat reserves they need for the rest of the year when they travel south through waters with little to no food. That’s why it makes sense that this is the activity we see them doing most often during our tours: nearly 20 hours of their day is thought to be spent feeding, although we did get to see some other activities today. Sometimes when the whales have been getting lots of food and have some extra energy, their focus can shift to other things to do with their day. One of these whales, Nova, had time to explore her environment and her curiosity about one of our vessels. She surfaced right next to one of our open boats briefly to check us out, before continuing on their way. Another set of whales, Ghost, her calf, and Strike, also had some extra energy that they spent in a bit more explosive of a way: breaching! These whales threw their massive bodies out of the water a few times before they stopped and split up. Perhaps it was an energetic goodbye, as we saw Ghost and her calf continue north while Strike went south.

We enjoyed all our time with the humpback whales before starting the journey back south towards Nanaimo. As we headed south, one open boat spotted a final pair of humpback whales along the way, and they were actually familiar fins. The pair spotted near Winchelsea Island earlier were now closer to Ballenas, and they seemed to have extra energy of their own. We spotted them chin-slapping in the distance, and they switched to more social behaviour as we approached, travelling close together at the surface with the occasional roll. It was an exciting, although brief encounter before we continued to Nanaimo.

Each boat had one final stop along the way before returning to the dock to spot some pinnipeds to end the tour. The two boats further ahead had time to go down Northumberland Channel and see the sea lions hauled out on the log booms there, while the boat that had the surprise extra humpback encounter stopped at Snake Island instead to view the harbour seals hauled out there. Both were a nice change of pace to end the day.

It was a great day to spend on the water, and throughout the many wildlife encounters, the onboard Marine Naturalists, Cheyenne Brewster, Hayleigh Hilbert, and Evan Hessels, captured some amazing photos, which are available for you to enjoy below!