Category: Breaching

August #2 2022 – Surprise!

Terry and I have more than a nodding – pun intended – acquaintance with sleeping whales. In fact sleeping is what whales seem to enjoy most when in close proximity to Blue Parrot, our 50 year old sailboat. So when we encountered 2 humpback whales peacefully snoozing side by side in mid Sutil Channel Terry and I prepared to settle in for an afternoon nap. In fact Terry was just about to put his camera away for a while when this happened.

Which proves once again that understanding the motivations and behaviours of whales is a mysterious journey indeed.

July 2020 #5 – Playtime with Spotlight & Calf!

We moored Blue Parrot on the dock with her nose toward shore. At low tide with a NW wind blowing us towards moored boats in shallow water it’s a bit tricky getting off. We time for a gust to blow Blue P off the dock and pull a 270° turn to head out into Evans Bay. The NW wind sweeps across low terrain on Read Island from Hoskyns Channel, Johnson Strait and Bute Inlet. White caps on the crests of short steep waves rile up the mouth of the bay. Wind and waves blow us around the point all the way into Burdwood Bay.

Baby Breaching!

Terry assesses the possibility of an anchorage for later tonight. “Looks good at low tide here. I think we’ll be OK. Let’s head out.” Blue P angles across the frothing mouth of Evans Bay to the Penn Islands. We’re getting ready to raise the sails when the water suddenly flattens and the wind dies. “Typical” Jude mutters as another attempt to sail is foiled yet again.

All thoughts of sailing evaporate as we spot 2 humpies close to the shore of the middle Penn. They’re moving slowly, making their way around the outside island closest to Cortes. “Sleeping” Terry notes wryly. He notices one of the whale watching boats emerging from Whale Passage and reports the whales. We decide to move a little closer when “What was that? Up ahead – a breach – towards Von Donnop” We hear the WHHOOMP of WHALE hitting Water.  “Let’s Go!” Jude steers Blue P over as the whale watchers speed past.

We approach slowly and cut the engine “Is that a baby?” Terry wonders “Yes! A Mom and Calf! Look! The baby is breaching – she can’t quite make it all the way out of the water” —–“Is this a good position?” Jude calls to Terry who is perched precariously on Blue P’s bow manouvering carefully around the furled jib.

“WHOAH!” Mom is tail lobbing. Half her body is up out of the water. Baby is so close it looks as if Mom is going to land on top of herm – but she doesn’t. “Looks like they’re playing” Terry shouts during a brief lull in activity. He’s performing some fancy footwork to keep the whales in focus as they circle around Blue P at about 100 meters. Their play is so exuberant and Baby’s ingenue breaches are so adorable. Then Mom BREACHES – WHHHHUUMMMPPPP!  The SIZE of HER!! There are no words equal to the AWESOMENESS of a 40 TON WHALE leaping clear out of the ocean into the air. “Sky Hopping” as our friend Martha thought it was called – A much better description of defying gravity!

So special to finally witness a Mom and Calf playing together like this. We are so juiced! We’ve waited 5 years for this moment – and to capture it on film so we can share it with you was worth every minute of boredom and discomfort.

Mom and Calf are moving north. They’re getting farther away as the wind blows Blue P south. Then “Looks like playtime is over. They seem to be resting now”.  Terry observes. “Heads up!” Jude calls. She swings Blue P around in the direction of a nearby cove where half a dozen boats are congregating. “There are a couple of whales over there. Maybe they’ve finished sleeping” We hang around with them for a while but they’re not interested in people. They dive and easily give us all the slip.

Meanwhile it’s getting pretty windy so we decide to head back towards our evening anchorage. Evans Bay has once again erupted in white caps and heavy winds. We angle across the waves, navigating around another whale who is also crossing. “Happy sailing friend”

There are 2 other sailboats already anchored in Burdwood Bay so anchoring is a bit tight. But it’s protected from the NW waves and the gusts will blow us off shore not towards the other boats, so we settle in for the night.

July 2020 #6 – Raza and Harlequin the Humpback Acrobats

It’s morning in Burdwood Bay and we’re up and away before the tide drops too low.  “Let’s head NE again.” I suggest “we can sail to the Penns and check for blows as we go.” I unfurl the jib and we manage a short sail before the breeze completely dies (typical) as we reach the Penn Islands.

We float around scanning the scene but don’t find any whales. Terry notices a whale watching boat speeding out of Whale Passage towards Calm Channel. “Hey! I think they’ve stopped. They’ve probably found a whale” he says “Let’s go over there. I’ll get my camera” I fire up the engine. We head over and start to line up beside the whale watch boat when the 2 whales begin to jump. “They’re coming our way Terry” I yell “I’ll have to get out of the way!”

“A breach! Another breach! A double breach! They’re too close! I need my wide angle lens!” Terry yells. ” Shit! I can’t get them both in the frame. I’m just guessing where they’re going to come up.  I focus on this whale and that whale breaches. I don’t know where to point the camera!”  I find the wide angle lens sitting in the cockpit and run to the bow to hand it to Terry. Then I run back to the tiller to steer the boat away from the whales who are getting closer. “Why is there always wind when we’re with the whales?” I opine.  Blue P skims over the waves past the boats on the other side of the whales. Meanwhile the pair begin to fin slap. They execute a few more breath-taking breaches which we miss because Blue Parrot has sailed away from the action.

This is a perpetual problem with the Parrot ship. She’s a sailboat and the wind moves her even without sails up. And she has a lot of inertia when she’s moving unlike a runabout which will simply stop when you kill the motor. Add to that the joy of an engine with no true reverse. She’s not the easiest vessel to control. With lots of other boats around and whales close to us all my attention has to be on the helm. This means I don’t have time to get my hydrophone into the water to record any possible vocalizing between the whales. I also have a skookum stereo mic onboard but all this takes about 5 minutes to set up. We really need a larger boat with a dedicated skipper to be in charge of it. (This will not be news to anyone who’s been following these blogs.)

“Terry, I’m going to have to turn the boat with the wind. You’ll have to move to the other side.” Poor Ter. It’s hard enough to find a place on Blue P to shoot video that’s not obstructed by shrouds, stays, mast, boom, life lines or other hardware blocking the camara’s view. Then there’s all the buttons and wheels on the GH5 which all have different functions depending on the various positions of each one. It’s too easy to hit one accidentally and shut off something or turn on something else you didn’t intend to turn on – or turn record off altogether – especially if you’re 6’4″ and have big hands. And that’s even before you have to decide which lens to use – telephoto or wide angle? Whales don’t stay in one place for long.  And, if there’s more than one  which whale is going to jump? It’s hard to fit a bunch of whales into one frame. After pondering on that controlling a tender sailboat seems easy in comparison.

Meanwhile Terry observes something on the back of one of the whales  “Are those propellor marks?” he asks. He’s peering through the camera. As the whales settle down Blue P drifts over to one of the whale watching boats. The skipper is Nick. He’s an expert guide who has been on the water for years and can identify most of the humpbacks and orcas individually. “The one with the propellor wounds on her back is Raza” Nick tells us. Later we learn that the other whale may be Harlequin.

Meanwhile half a dozen recreational boaters who have gathered to watch the show disperse into the channel. “Let’s try anchoring in Von Donnop tonight – we’re already here” Terry suggests. “It’s Saturday night – do you think there’ll be space?” I ask “There’s lots of anchoring space all through there ” Terry responds. “OK, but I need a swim first. I’m so hot. I’m going to head into the calmer water and jump off the bubble boat.”

40 minutes later I finally exit the chop of crisscrossing currents to find calmer water. Since the evening wind will probably come up again soon I jump into the ocean for quick frigid dip “EEEEEE!”. I haul out to let Terry have a turn. Terry perches on the edge of the bubble boat gingerly splashing his too HOT skin and ruminating on whether he’s up to getting in when “Hey Ter, there’s 2 whales coming up the channel. They’re headed this way – maybe 150 meters.”

PLOP! He’s in like Flynn! – no hesitation – splashing his long arms like fins to attract the whales. “Take a photo of me with the whales” Terry yells moistly. I drop into the cabin and grab the camera – but the whales aren’t cooperating. They just keep on truckin’ past us up the channel.  Oh well.  We amuse ourselves shooting video of Terry fin slapping and being a whale in the water with the magnificent mountains as backdrop.

Then the wind comes up and it’s a wild ride into Von Donnop with the wind on our heels.

 

May 2020 #2 – First Humpback Whale Sail

It’s finally our first cruise of the season. Our inflatable dinghy is held together mostly by glue, epoxy, 5200 and lots of repair hours. We offer prayers to the gods of small appliances “Please let him make it through another whale season.”  SV Blue Parrot is so far in pretty good shape. Unfortunately she hasn’t grown any over the Winter – still too small for Giant Terry.

We enjoy a few days at anchor in a beautiful bay to relax and get back into the rhythm of weather and tides. There is no cell or internet service in the Bay. Our VHF radio intermittently transmits weather statements from Environment Canada. Reception depends on Blue P’s position in the arc of her swing around her anchor.

We weigh anchor in light rain showers. An occasional breakthrough of sunrays through rainclouds plays rainbow prisms over dark mountains with snowy peaks. A report of a humpback whale near Cortes Reef comes in. “Let’s Go!” We’re on our way through Baker Passage when Terry shouts “Orca! They’re coming this way. 3, no 4 of them. I’ll get my camera.” He hands off the tiller to me after I’ve quickly grabbed my hydrophone gear. ”

They’re traveling really fast.” Terry announces. “They’re through the passage. Maybe they’re going to the rubbing beach – no they’re headed across to the mainland” I drop the hydrophone anyway in case the orca are vocalizing or communicating with others we can’t see.  I listen. “Nada. Maybe they’re hunting and they’re in stealth mode. They’re obviously mammal eaters” (Transient Biggs orca). I reel in the hydrophone.

Nearby, gulls are crying and swooping down in a frenzy! Guillemots and loons are also diving underwater at the same place. As we approach, bald eagles start flying in and grabbing fish from the surface. A Bait Ball is happening!! Herring or anchovy are being forced to the surface by salmon below them, making them available to aerial predators. S-c-r-e-e-e-e-e-ching eagle cries join with the gulls’ screaming in a cacophony of sound matching their chaotic flying and swooping. Soon there are a couple dozen eagles vying for fish and more keep coming! Where do they come from? Are there that many within sight of the bait ball? Or do they hear the sounds of birds or do they call each other, or . . .? Mysteries abound and every day in the natural world brings more questions we want to answer! Questions, questions, questions . . . always more and more!

There is a light SW breeze and the tide is with us so we float off Marina Island for a while and duck into the cabin to get out of the now intense midday sun. Terry sticks his head out  for a quick check just as 2 humpback whales breach off Francisco Pt. We fire up Lazarus (our WWII engine) and beetle over as fast as we can (4.85 knots/hr) while the whales breach and fin slap. 20 minutes later we arrive on the scene and carefully line up with the 2 recreational boats who have been enjoying the show. But the whales are finished being active. They proceed with their usual mode of activity when they are close to us – they go to sleep!

“OOOO Whale Breath” Terry groans as a piquant perfume of rotting fish with sulphurous accents wafts over us. But I am in whale heaven. I just love to BE around them even when they’re sleeping. Terry starts to talk about the challenges of shooting good video of whales from a sailboat. One of the whales gives a single gentle tail slap and both whales swim away.

Did we disturb them by talking? it’s so hard to know what that tail slap meant. [see Humpback Body Language Blog April 2020] We don’t follow them since they obviously left us.

The light SW daytime breeze is a harbinger of summer winds. We hoist the sails and sail to Drew Harbour on a broad reach. Sutil Channel is covid 19 quiet. There aren’t the usual fishing and tourist boats around. Our ears perk up – a breath. It’s another humpback whale – a smaller juvenile – and s/he is snoozing mid-channel. We sail serenely on.

Drew Harbour is a shocker. We round the end of the spit to find flotillas of flotsam and floating logs filling the anchorage. “It looks like a boom broke up in here” i say. We weave our way to our favourite anchorage and set the anchor  just as the tide starts to ebb and the wind switches to NW 10 – 20 knots.  Just in time! Sure cools off a hot day though.

 

July 2019 #3 They just keep jumping

NOTE TO READERS: We have chosen to use the word “herm” as a pronoun for any non-human animal whose gender is unknown to us.

A cloudy morning in a bay on Cortes. Two aluminum work boats buzz in at 9am. The skippers jump ship on a tiny islet to pick clams on the sandy beach at low tide.

We are charging batteries and studying the GH5 camcorder manual yet again so we get a late start. No backs or blows are visible in the immediate area as we motor out of the bay. But we hear reports of some lively humpbacks between Marina Island and Francisco Point so we head south over calm seas.

An hour later Terry calls from the bow “Blows! about 1/2 km ahead”. Three , maybe four whales are resting peacefully on the water so we slow down and ease closer. A seine boat is approaching the whales from the SW. He’s not slowing down. Has he seen the whales? “Try and get him on channel 16” Terry shouts “No, it’s OK. He’s on a parallel course. He won’t run over them them.” The seine boat doesn’t hit them but his heavy wake breaks over the sleeping whales. One large whale arches herm’s back and slams the water with herm’s tail. Pissed off? Maybe, but it’s over immediately. Back to sleep now.

Whales and dolphins sleep with one hemisphere of their brains at a time. The other hemisphere stays awake. They have to stay awake because, unlike humans, they are conscious breathers.  In fact researchers learned the hard way that if you tranquilize a whale or dolphin they will drown. Cetaceans have to be awake to breathe. Wakefulness of half their brain may also allow them to respond instantly to changes in the ocean environment such as the arrival of predators, or breaking waves. It is mind bending to imagine the consciousness of a being who lives simultaneously in the dreamtime and wakefulness. Wouldn’t we love to know!

The whales float and we float with them. We listen to the music of their breathing and Jude plays some didjeridoo. “I think there’s a baby with them” Terry whispers.  “Listen… a little “Poof” compared to Mom’s “PITCHOOOO”  And the dorsal fin is close to the blowholes on the little one…. Yup. Mom and calf – you got your wish Jude”

We send our sighting to the WOWS group line and soon see other boats coming to join us. The downside of this is that lots of boats, respectful though they are of the whales’ space, create lots of wake. Bobbing and rocking from boat wake makes it difficult to shoot video that doesn’t cause vertigo in the viewer. It’s especially debilitating when the whales are far from the ship so telephoto lenses must be employed.

“I think they’re waking up now” Terry observes. Unexpectedly one of the whales breaches. And they’re off! – fins slapping the surface water and lots of splashing activity. Jude drops the hydrophone and listens to hear if they are talking to each other. But all the boats are moving with the whales so wake and engine noise drown out every other sound. A light breeze springs up. It keeps shifting direction, forcing Jude to stay on the helm so we don’t run into any whales or other boats. It’s necessary to abandon the audio recording.

A few herring leap near our bow. The whales must have woken up to a school of passing herring and are taking advantage of the buffet lunch. When it seems they’ve gone under to rest for a while Jude decides to go for a brief swim while Terry grabs some lunch. On her way to get a towel Jude glances ahead “A whale – breaching” Jude cries. By now the whales are 1/2 km away. All thoughts of swimming and lunch are quickly abandoned as Terry scrambles for a camera and Jude starts the engine. It does feel a bit like a chase when the whales are active. All the boats circle around and move with them. But the whales don’t seem to mind. They continue fin slapping, tail lobbing and breaching – probably fishing on a herring school. In spite of the constant wake and movement of other boats in the water Terry manages to film some of the action. And they just keep jumping!

After an hour of hyper-activity the whales enjoy another rest so we don’t follow them. Time for lunch and a swim. But 20 minutes later they are breaching again! What an active bunch! Terry takes some still photos of the whales’ flukes for ID purposes. Later we learn who they are.

October 2018 – Breach!

After the amazing lounge feeding we had witnessed we are stoked for more of the same. Another bright calm day dawns and as we motor towards Mittlenach Island we hear a blow off our port bow.  We motor closer then stop to float- a little more than 100m away.  Whale doesn’t move so we are pretty sure that s/he knows we are here when we turn off the engine to float in parallel. We float there quietly for a few minutes.

All of a sudden whale’s tail drops, snout emerges, back arches. S/he breaches, then flips over and breaches again! “Do you think we got too close?” I worry “I don’t know. Let’s see if whale takes off” Terry responds. But whale continues to hang out near us, feeding in the area. I bring out my didjeridoo and begin playing as s/he feeds. After a few minutes whale swims around Blue Parrot in a semi-circle about 100m distance. S/he continues on to Twin Islands then circles around and swims by us again before heading South.

That’s herm breaching in the background of the Welcoming Whales blogs.