Minke Surprise - June 16 Trip Report

Minke whale doing its best impression of an orca in Weynton Pass

Today was all about flat calm water and lots of wildlife. There was a heavy mist for most of the day adding wispy tendrils of fog around the islands. Everyone was cozy in their float suits and we set off to see what we could find. First stop was to see some Dalls porpoises in front of Telegraph Cove. One of them raced over and under our bow before joining the rest of the group a little distance away. Next we drove over to Weynton Passage where we were very surprised by a minke whale! There are several minkes that spend their summers in the waters around Cormorant Island (Alert Bay) but they are usually hard to spot and often disappear before you realize what you’ve seen – but not this one! He surfaced several times, giving us a really good look at his rostrum and dorsal fin. It’s easy to see how they could be mistaken for an orca.

Can you spot the two little brown heads?

When we got back we consulted with Jared Towers, who works for DFO (Department of Fisheries & Oceans), and is the local expert on individual minke whales. He ID’d the whale as Galaxy and confirmed that this was the first sighting of this individual this year. Galaxy was right beside the Stellers sea lion haul-out so we were very entertained while we waited for him to pop up again. Not to be outdone by the whale and the sea lions, one of the adult bald eagles was up in the nest feeding the two chicks, who were all looking a little scraggly in the drizzly weather.

Eventually we left the action at the Plumpers and headed toward the White Cliff Islets where we spotted a humpback tail-slapping in the distance. We found several whales all taking deep dives between breaths at the surface. The water was exceptionally calm and we could see far into the distance – which was lucky because Nate was able to spot a large number of Pacific white-sided dolphins all the way over at Malcolm Island. Off we went to go and check them out.

Quite a few peacefully surfacing dolphins and one more humpback later, it was getting close to then end of our time, so we turned towards home. Just as we were approaching the back side of Cormorant Island, we noticed a couple of rafts of sea otters among all of the floating logs. So many sea otters today! They’re such a special treat to see after so many years of almost none in this area.