Jamie's Whaling Station & Adventure Centres
606 Campbell Street V0R 2Z0 Tofino, BC, Canada

Last night we headed out into Barkley Sound with our crew to see what was going on in Barkley Sound before the season starts. It certainly doesn't disappoint. Starting tomorrow you can experience the herring spawn event, and all the knock on effects, for yourself. As we made our way down towards Forbes Island and Salmon Beach, we encountered thousands of surf scoters. There are thousands of gulls gathered on the shorelines too. Mixed in with the surf scoters, for the eagle-ey...ed amongst you, are black scoters and pelagic cormorants. Look for the long neck on the pelagic cormorant, and it's white patches under the wing; for the black scoter, look for a yellow bill, not orange, with a black tip. These gatherings of birds highlight more and more the importance of herring on our coast. As well as the birds, we encountered at least 8 grey whales. Incredibly we even managed to put our ID skills to the test and realised we were watching CSG2 "Calf of Collage". We last encountered her in the fall, up in Clayoquot Sound on tours out of Tofino. She is one of the few grey whales in our part of the world that we know what year they were born and what sex they are. CSG2 was born in 2002 to CSG222 "Collage". Calf of Collage travelled with a calf of her own in 2015, making it clear she is a female. As Calf of Collage has a calf of her own, does it get the nickname Calf of Calf of Collage?

Our Ucluelet Station opens this Saturday. We'll have a bit more of an update for you all this evening, but this was the scene just outside the Harbour earlier this week. Ucluelet has huge gatherings of sea lions, lots of bald eagles congregating and both grey and humpback whales returning. This is driven by the herring spawn. We can't stress enough the importance of those little fish. This evening is our first staff training event of the year. Each month our guides take the t...ime to get together, bring in speakers and chat about the latest information regarding the species that inhabit our waters and shorelines. Our staff organise and attend these events voluntarily, which we think further highlights the passion and excitement that our crew share. This evening, as well as reviewing last season and looking forward to what we're expecting to see this year, we'll be heading out into Barkley Sound to see if we can spot any activity around the herring spawn. We're looking forward to getting back out on the water with our guests in Barkley this weekend. Check back here for an update soon!

We're thrilled to be supporting this initiative again this year. If you know someone that meets the requirements, share this post. It's a fantastic opportunity for a local young person - take the time to check out the details by clicking the link!

It happened again... fin whales were seen today on our part of the coast. In fact, this time the Lukwa got out to see them. As you can imagine, we've got a lot of thrilled guests and crew this evening. Incredibly, two of our crew saw fin whales almost a year to the date last season (March 5th last year), within a couple of miles of where they were seen today. The individuals seen today do not appear to be the same as those seen last year. Is this something that happens every ...year that we simply don't see? Is this a sign of expansion into other areas? Is it a complete fluke and just coincidence? We're certainly excited to see if this becomes more of a consistent thing each March. Fin whales are the second largest animal in the world, behind the blue whale. They have been recorded up to 25 metres long here in BC. Unfortunately they were hunted extensively throughout the world during the period commercial whaling. Globally they were they most exploited species. In BC they were hunted from 1905 until the last whaling station closed in Coal Harbour in 1967. Thankfully they are rebounding, but there are still threats to this species. Vessel strike is a prevalent cause of death, and they feed in a number of shipping lanes across the Pacific. They are yet another example of a species that benefits from the "See a blow, go slow!" mantra. More than that, they're a species that should encourage us to reconsider where we route traffic, as their recovery is certainly worth protecting. There's also a lack of data for fin whales, particularly for our area. We're going to ensure we send our images, and the coordinates, to researchers including DFO to ensure our tours count for science!

Today we sent out our first zodiac tour of the season, and our guests spent time with Bigg's killer whales and grey whales. We had killer whales at the beginning of the tour, including this big guy, Stanley. Stanley was born in the year 2000, and is a male Bigg's killer whale. He was seen today with members of the T109As. Stanley was reported last week hanging out with the T069As and T069Ds. It's great to see some of our "regulars", The Runaways, spending time with an animal ...we see less frequently. Earlier this month they were recorded with a different bull, T097. The males seem to be enjoying hanging around this group at the moment. It's more normal for us to spend time with grey whales as they migrate past us at this time of year, but you never know what will appear. We've got space on our covered cruiser, the Lukwa, and our zodiac tomorrow. The Lukwa departs at 12:30, the zodiac will depart at 13:00.

Captured during the herring spawn last year, this image shows a bald eagle with Mount Ozzard in the background, perched with its eyes on the water looking for the small fish that are so important for our ecosystem here on the coast. Eagles, sea lions, scoters and other waterfowl, along with grey and humpback whales are now gathering down in Barkley Sound for this incredible natural event. Join us from March 14 as we start whale watching out of Ucluelet. Book online, or find more details at www.jamies.com/book

September on the coast is when we start to see the seasons change. It's another month where there's opportunity to see grey whales, humpback whales, killer whales, bears and a whole wealth of other animals. Domino (CSG1023) is the grey whale pictured with its eye above the water. It's tail is also featured on the photograph immediately afterwards. 2019 was the first year Domino has been documented in our area. The humpback whale that is lunge feeding is CS629. It was first re...corded in 2012. CS629 was seen on both Tofino and Ucluelet tours. This image was from a tour out of Ucluelet in Barkley Sound. We had Bigg's killer whales hunting through the bull kelp. The individual in the image is T109C, a female that has been recorded since birth in our area by local researchers. The birds photographed are Buller's shearwater. They are a bird we sometimes see a little further from the coast, often mixed into big flocks of sooty shearwater. Having the opportunity to spot birds like this is another thing that makes wildlife watching on the West Coast so special. Coastal wolves are rarely seen, but this scene in September was particularly special, with the adult pair and their offspring on the edge of the forest. Harbour porpoise are here year-round. In calmer conditions they're so much easier to spot. In the image here they're surfacing through sea foam, crested by the motion of the sea breaking down phytoplankton. We start whale watching for the season on March 1st, this Sunday. We look forward to welcoming some of you aboard this season!

It appears, from what we're hearing that the herring spawn is gearing up for this year. Our Hot Springs tour in Clayoquot picked up a grey whale in an area where herring are known to gather. In Barkley Sound we've heard that sea lions are starting to gather, and we'd expect the whales to be not too far behind. Herring are such an important little fish, with the adults, juveniles, and the eggs all playing such a massive role in our ecosystem at different times of year. Everything from tiny beach hoppers to massive humpback whales rely on this species for food. We're very fortunate that they return to our coast to spawn each spring. Jump aboard our boats this season and learn more about whales, bears and the entire ecosystem that supports these charismatic creatures!

We're so proud to support such an important project. Thank you, WildSafeBC, for all you do!

August was just as spectacular as you'd except here on the coast. It was filled with wildlife, and featured many individuals for who a lot is known. The first image is of Bar (CSG298), a grey whale who was first documented in 1979! Bar was surface feeding in Cow Bay on the first occasion we saw him. The second image shows the open mouth with baleen hanging down from the upper jaw. It is this baleen that is essential to allow the grey whales to filter their food from sediment ...and water. A humpback whale that ended up being nicknamed Spike, for the spike-like marking on the tail, hung around Clayoquot Sound for most of the month. We are exceptionally excited to see if this particular individual will return again this year. The second humpback image shows another unknown individual cartwheeling off the coast. Next up is Big White, a female grey whale who was also first documented in 1979. She last had a calf in 2017, and the calf was seen frequently through August last year too. Big White's 2017 calf is known as Snowflake. The black bear pictured is an individual who has an established territory in an area we visit from Ucluelet. Known as Big Momma, this bear has survived for a number of years, and raised cubs, with only one eye. The final image is of Bigg's killer whale T109C. If you've been keeping up with the recent visits to Clayoquot Sound you'll have seen that the T109As have been very present. T109C is the sister of T109A. We saw every "109" killer whale known last season. Here, T109C was combing the reefs as she searched for prey. All our images were captured using a telephoto lens. We've got a little over a week to go before we commence whale watching for the season. We're really looking forward to learning more about our neighbours this year!

Our Nature Tour this afternoon found The Runaways again! This marks the 4th time this group have been recorded in our area in the past 12 days. The first two visits they were with T097, a large bull. The past two visits, both on Monday and again today, the group of 5 were alone. In all of these encounters we haven't seen Runaway's oldest daughter, T109A2. She was seen separately last year, travelling with her own two calves. Comparing the images to the DFO catalogue published... last year shows that the youngest killer whale here, T109A6 (b. 2018), has a new notch in the trailing edge of the dorsal fin that is very similar in shape and location to her older sibling, T109A4 (b. 2012). Pictured here, from left to right, are: Runaway or T109A (b. 1990), T109A6 (b. 2018), T109A4 (b. 2012), T109A3 (b. 2009) & T109A5 (b. 2014). We've sent the sightings in to Strawberry Isle Marine Research Society to add to their database of killer whale sightings here in Clayoquot Sound. Note that these images were taken with a telephoto lens and cropped.

The migration is underway. Grey whales are making their journey from breeding areas in Mexico. Some will head to Alaska, or even Russia. Others will remain in BC waters for the summer months. Pictured are Saddle and Big White, two of the grey whales that return to our area year on year. Saddle has been documented since 1974, and Big White since 1979. Jump on board one of our Nature Tours, departing daily at 1pm. We're still offering these tours at $89. Head out with a chance to see whales for less!