June 10 - Epic Humpback Encounter!

alees13
Jun 15, 2016
2 min read

Today we had what can only be described as an Epic Humpback Encounter! This was one of the best Humpback Whale encounters we have ever had. We had 20 plus Whales in the morning including a pair of Humpbacks Lunge feeding. As we continued east we started to count more and more blows in the distance. Eventually we counted 20 plus Humpbacks. The Whales were spread out in two’s and threes from around Port Angeles to Ediz Hook. This was the first time we had seen this many Humpbacks in the Salish Sea at this time of year! Seeing two Humpbacks lunge feed in sync is also not something we see every day :) About 15 years “Big Mama” was the first Humpback to return to the Salish Sea and start the “Humpback Comeback” and today was further proof of that. We believe we have now a catalogue of close to 100 different Humpbacks that have visited the Salish Sea! In the afternoon the Humpbacks had spread out a bit but we got to see several Whales. The first two we encountered were doing lots of lunge feeding and deep dives. One Whale that was apart from the others was in a playful mood with several spyhops, pectoral slaps, and tail waves. At one stage the whale rolled on its back and brought both huge pectoral fins out of the water, it was a fabulous site. We then headed over to a group of five Whales including “Big Mama” & her Calf, who was being extremely playful and we saw lots of breaching, cartwheels & spyhops!!! In between all this incredible Humpback Whale action, we visited Race Rocks to show our guests the Seals, Sea Lions & the Sea Otter. Epic Encounter really is the only way to describe today :) To see more images from today’s encounters click on the following link;