Acrobatic Humpback whales

Another fabulous day on the water with 7 Humpback whales! The day started off calm and still, so much so that the first Humpback blow of the day was an abrupt but welcome disruption to the peace. At first light this same Humpback was right in front of Alert Bay but by the time we found it again on our first trip it had moved a short distance down Johnstone Strait. This animal is a 6 year old that we know as BCY0057, an offspring of one of our resident Humpback's, Houdini aka BCX0022. After a nice encounter with this large 6 year old we cruised through the islands and observed plenty of Eagles, 6 Black oystercatchers, Harbor Seals, Stellar Sea lions, (1 devouring a huge salmon) and even a coastal Black-tailed Deer licking the salty seaweed at the waters edge. This afternoon both MV Cetacea and SV Tuan were out again and enjoying the marine life. Between the 2 vessels we saw 7 Humpback whales in total, some of which were waving their 15 foot long pectoral fins around in the air, rolling in the kelp, and even breaching right out of the water showing off their immense size and power. Other species seen today were Dall's porpoise, (some bow-riding) Harbor porpoise, and our first Least Sandpiper of the year.

Coastal Black-tailed Deer