We left our Friday Harbor location today and headed south out the San Juan Channel, though Cattle Pass, and into the Haro Strait where we came across a Humpback Whale! This was the same Humpback that we saw last night right off the south end of San Juan Island. When we reached Hein Bank, the whale was heading toward Vancouver, BC. At first it was diving deep and staying down for about eight minutes at a time. Then, the whale seemed to have a change of pace and started swimming slowly toward the surface coming up for air many times in a five minute period. We call this "resting" behavior! We also got to see the large whale (about the size of our boat) roll through the water and tail slap! It was very fun to watch...!
We followed the Humpback to Middle Bank in the Canadian waters, at which point we had to turn around and head home. On our way home we saw lot's of Harbor Porpoise, some Harbor Seals, and even a Bald Eagle and its nest! Even though the trip started off a little rainy and cold, it ended up being a great day on the water yet again!
Heather, Naturalist, M/V Sea Lion
San Juan Safaris