Today (6/4)
one of our boats had a private a wedding party on board. They wanted so cruise our beautiful San Juan Islands, and maybe see some whales. We left Roche Harbor and headed toward Haro Strait where we were greeted by a humpback whale! The whale had previously been down on 10 minute down times. When it sounded on its first deep dive, we weren’t anticipating what happened next! It was about one minute before our full grown humpback whale breached all the way out of the water! It was incredible! We were so lucky. We spent a few surfacings with our humpback whale friend, who turned out to be BCX1251 “Orion.” We moved on to Spieden Island where we showed everyone the amazing mouflon sheep and fallow deer who inhabit the island. We also spotted what was likely a mated pair of bald eagles near a nest. We cruised through Johns Pass and along Boundary Pass towards Patos Lighthouse. Just north of the lighthouse, Captain Trevor saw a spout in the distance. Right after that, a breach! It was a baby humpback whale! Our local celebrity humpback whale, BCY0324 “Big Mama” and her 2022 calf were headed east from Canada. That little calf breached for us several times, while mom swam along unfazed by her rambunctious calf. We stayed until the calf stopped breaching and both mom and calf went down on a deeper dive. What timing! It was incredible! As we cruised back toward Roche Harbor, everyone was reliving our two incredible humpback encounters for the trip!