Humpback Mother and Calf

August 21, 2010

This morning, we headed out on the Orca Spirit and began our search for cetaceans off Constance Bank. August is when the humpback whales begin to arrive and we scanned the waters hoping to spot a blow. We continued eastward towards Discovery Island, where we have been spotting array whale on a regular basis. Unfortunately, we did not spot a gray whale, but saw several harbour seals. We continued our journey through Oak Bay and travelled towards Race Rocks when we received a report that a humpback whale had been found. It turned out to be two humpback whales, likely the same mother and calf pair we had on Monday. Like Monday, we had an awesome experience. We witnessed several tail slaps, pectoral slaps, cartwheels and even a few half-breaches! It was an incredible display by two of the oceans' most amazing animals.

On the afternoon trip, we were privileged to encounter the mother and calf pair again. As we arrived on scene, there was some rolling and play behavior from the young calf and some awesome fluking behavior. We had a great experience with these amazing whales and headed for Race Rocks. At Race Rocks, we saw many sea lions as they continue to return to Race Rocks in large numbers. There was some amazing predatory behaviour as several sea lions were definitely in the process of having a light lunch. One sea lion actually tossed a large salmon! Although we did not find any orcas today, we enjoyed the tremendous diversity of the Salish Sea.