Category: Herring

October 2018 – Humpbacks “Lounge” Feeding

After 2 weeks of administration, video editing, catching up on blogs and sending out a Newsletter we finally get back on the water. It is calm and sunny after a particularly wet September. We anchor in one of our favourite places and check for any reports of humpbacks in the area. “Someone saw a humpback breaching off Rebecca Spit” Terry reports “I’ll take that as a sign to go north” I reply.

We make an early start on a perfect day for video – sunny, clear and calm.  No wind yet so we are motoring towards Mitlenach Island when we spot them. “Look, 2 humpbacks feeding in the shadows” Terry, the whale spotter supreme, is pointing to the shore of Twin Islands. As we observe the whales moving SW we catch sight of another blow, then 2 more blows moving North – 5 humpback whales! We kill the engine to float around and better observe what everyone is doing. A whale watching boat without passengers motors in. The skipper sees the whales and slows down. He follows them at a respectful distance. When 2 whales circle back we decide to stay where we are.

I call the captain of the Eagle Eye Adventures inflatable on VHF radio and introduce Terry and I and the Welcoming Whales project. Reuben, the young captain, is heading to Lund today. We share stories and information we’ve observed about the cetaceans in our area. I have often wondered whether whale watching (and other) boats would interfere with transient Biggs orcas while they are hunting. But Reuben tells us “Transients sometimes make a kill – usually a seal – right beside my boat. Sometimes a seal will even try to hide underneath my boat” It seems from Ruben’s report and from others I’ve heard since that when Biggs orcas are in full pursuit of their prey, boats don’t bother them.

I ask Reuben if he will take us closer to where the 2 whales are shallow feeding at the surface. “Sure” he says. We hop into his inflatable with our cameras. The inflatable skims smoothly and quietly to about 200m from the whales. Ruben has a range finder to indicate how far away his boat is from any marine mammal. It is standard whale watching gear. He has never seen this kind of lunge feeding. “This is incredible! They’re just lying on their sides with their mouths open!” I exclaim “They’re hoovering herring!”  “They’re not LUNGE feeding they’re LOUNGE feeding Terry quips. Then he is intent on capturing video of the phenomenon. We float quietly for about 15 minutes until Ruben says he has to go.

“That was amazing!” Terry and I are both thrilled. It is 6pm and we should be getting back to the anchorage but we don’t want to leave. Suddenly the surface of the sea begins roiling and rippling. Silver flashes underwater and leaps into the air  – herring! They’re jumping everywhere! But listen! The sound of heavy rain showers in our ears. The skin of the water shimmers. Tiny shrimp pop up like popcorn all around the ship. Gulls are skimming the water and grabbing shrimp from the surface. And here come the whales! A couple of sea lions are feeding with the humpbacks. They look sinuously intertwined.  It’s a free-for-all on herring and krill.

In the midst of all this 2 women in kayaks paddle out to the Parrot ship. “Are they minke whales?” asks one “What are they doing?” “What are they eating?” “Are people allowed to fish herring?” Terry and I answer the rapid fired questions as fast as we can all the while filming the feeding action.

Martha and Jean paddle closer to the whales and we hold our breaths “Don’t get too close” we call to them. “We won’t” they answer. But the whales are heading their way. They begin back paddling furiously – away from the whales and back to Blue Parrot. “Whew!”  When their excitement abates we ask if there is a good place to anchor near here as it is past sunset. Martha invites us to tie up to her mooring buoy about 100m towards shore from the Parrot ship.  Her generous offer means that we don’t have to leave the scene at all!

Two excited women paddle back to shore as we resume filming. The whales are still feeding in the purplepeach painted sea-sky as we anchor for the night.

August 2018 – Whales in the Smoke

It snuck in during the night. We wake to a sky cloaked in veils of smoke. A red/orange sun and rust brown air are gifts from hundreds of fires burning up the interior forests and agricultural lands of BC . All land further than 1/2 km distance fades into smoke. We have our “Navigation for Dummys” tools, ie: navigational software, depth sounder and compass. But the claustrophobic combination of hot, smokey air and minimal visibility is spooky. I feel a renewed awe and respect for the cultures that navigated the oceans without any of those tools.

Since the smoke seems thicker to the south and wind is light we decide to go north to Mitlenach Island, the seabird sanctuary and anchor overnight. As we approach Mitlenach a few hours later we pass a couple of whale watching boats watching 1 humpback feed – a good sign that other whales may be around. Another sailboat is just leaving the very shallow, rock strewn anchorage on the SE side of the island. This is definitely a CALM WEATHER anchorage at halfmoon (not too low) tides. Just as we set the anchor for a NW breeze the wind turns around to the E and we almost end up on the rocks! Terry grabs the stern line and hops in the dinghy. Amazing the force of a 3 knot wind – it takes all his strength to row that dinghy and haul the stern of Blue Parrot around towards the shore.

A herd of harbour seal heads bobbing in the water have been watching all this activity. The whole herd follows us as we lower our snorkel gear into the dinghy and row it out to the rocks. As we pick our way carefully between the sand anemones and enter the cold, murky water a dozen seals approach us but they don’t come too close. In the plankton soup they disappear at 2 meters away. They don’t seem to want to play with us so we turn our attention to other ocean flora and fauna. A silver swarm surrounds us – streaming silver sides and swishing tails. It’s a shoal of juvenile herring. No wonder the humpback whales are here! We revel in herring world a while.

Swimming with so many herring is delicious but the water is too frigid to tolerate for long in a 3ml shortie wetsuit.  As we haul out to warm up we hear 2 humpbacks breathing just outside the small anchorage.  Is it hard for them to breathe deeply in the smokey air? Hoping to catch sight of them we follow a trail up a cliff which overlooks the NE shallows. We can hear a humpback breaching out there but the smoke is so thick that we can’t see anybody. Oh well. Cormorants, gulls and fascinating flora are plentiful. The interpretive signs help us identify dried up plants that are past their flowering and fruiting stages.

After a rough night in the anchorage keeping Blue Parrot off the rocks when the NW wind backed to W and freshened we are tired sailors. But the breeze is still blowing so we raise the sails and head towards Twin Islands in the smoke.  2 humpbacks are busy feeding as we sail past. We don’t want to disturb them so we continue on towards home.