Written by Jenn Dickie
It is my 3rd day on Gil Island and it is clear to me that I have made the right choice to spend my holiday this year volunteering at Cetacea Lab. It has been 10 years since the first time I came to the Great Bear Rainforest and met Janie and Hermann who were about to start building the house and lab on Whale Point. I knew immediately there was something very special about this part of the world and the people and creatures that call it home. It has drawn me back here again and again, and I am never disappointed!
I was woken by the distinct sounds of humpback whale blows in the bay, after taking a moment to properly register what I was listening to, I rushed to get out of the tent and down to the lab as quickly as possible. By the time I made my way onto the porch the whale had just passed by the lab and was continuing to work its way west in Taylor Bight. Just then Hermann noticed another blow in the distance coming our way. We all watched the whales in the morning light, sipping our morning coffee with the hope that this was the start of a “whale day”. A short while later there was a blow directly in front of us, just off the point. With my camera firing away I very quickly realized this was not a humpback whale, it was too large and its dorsal fin too far back on its massive body. It had to be a Fin Whale, the second largest mammal on the planet and a species that has only recently started returning to this area. There was not just one, but a mother and calf, just 40 ft from where we stood! This was my first ever Fin Whale, and I could not have wished for a better view of it.
At the same time we had a report from Ulric, they has just seen two groups of orca passing close to the Wall Islets. This was their second morning at the outcamp and they were obvioulsy thrilled.
We wrapped up the day watching the sun slowly drop out of view to the west and the full moon rise over Princess Royal Island to the east… just another day in paradise.
