Humpbacks Have Arrived!
9/11/2010: We headed southwest for our trip today. Our first whale spotting was just west of Hein Bank where we found a very cooperative minke whale that gave us lots of great, close-up, viewing. It was calm enough out that we could also smell this whale. Next we cruised all the way over toward Port Angeles, and along the way we spotted another minke whale, but we didn't stop because we had four humpback whales nearby that we wanted to visit. We eventually reached the humpbacks. The first two whales were two adults that showed their tail flukes, one right after another, for deep dives. After they went down we headed over to look at the other two whales which were a female and a Juvenal whale. They were surfacing together on several occasions. They went down for deep dives then a few minutes later the Juvenal whale breached completely out of the water! Within about ten seconds the big adult followed it up with a breach of her own! Then she followed that with three head lunges in a row. The whales swam over toward us next and gave everyone great views. The Juvenal whale surprised us all with a cartwheel. On two different occasions the adult raised her tail flukes into the air for deep dives, with the second one coming just as we had to say goodbye. What a great show! Other wildlife we spotted today included harbor seals, harbor porpoises, a Steller sea lion, and lots of birds. Naturalist Bart Rulon
