Whale Watching

Whale watching on a Lindblad tour in a channel near British Columbia, where the boat is still, only 75 total people are on the ship, and no one is throwing up, is the way to go. Outside Hartley Bay, where the staff picked up gas for the Zodiacs, we saw one large male Orca (the guy with the BIG dorsal fin) and a variety of smaller pods. The staff saw some Dall’s Porpoises, and they believe that the whales began to hunt them. Although we cannot know for sure, since we did not see the male again, one staff member believes they actually caught one of the porpoises, despite the fact that porpoises can swim 35 mph (30mph for the Orca). We also saw a pod of humpback whales that was lazily making its way through the channel. Without the swells of the ocean, taking pictures was much easier, and the opportunity to watch the whales for an extensive time, without time pressure to be somewhere else, helped us to observe the whales’ behavior as a scientist rather than a tourist.

While we were in our Zodiac on Friday, suddenly a whale rose right in front of the little boat. We were able to watch the whale for about 30 minutes, as it would spout, come up, go down, swim a ways, spout, come up, go down, and perhaps show its fluke. We even were treated to a short “bubbling.” Humpbacks blow bubbles around themselves, creating an area that confuses the fish in the area, making it easier for the whales to feed. Usually the whales bubble in pods, so to see it done with just one whale was quite the treat. Having never been so close, we were invigorated by the sight of these awesome creatures.

Then again on Saturday, we were treated to another Zodiac ride to be close to a Humpback. Shawn guessed that the one we were watching was about 40 feet long (the size of a school bus) and weighed 40 tons. It seemed like a gentle giant, however, as it went up and down, up and down. Don got a video of it diving and showing its fluke, and at times it would just lay there - called logging - to rest. We were within 50 yards of the one today, and yesterday’s Humpback came up within about 20 yards of us - so exciting.