Breathtaking Humpback Whale encounter! Sept 24h, 2011

This afternoon both our vessels headed out again full of excited passengers hoping to see some type of Whale and other Marine Wildlife and were they ever in for a treat! Not only did we show them 2 Transient Orcas (T31 & T49c) plus all 88 Resident Orcas (See separate post), we also got to have a breathtaking encounter with a number of Humpback Whales including a couple of very active Humpbacks.

As we arrived on scene with these two active Humpback Whales, one of them started to smack its extremely large Pectoral Fin (they can be up to a 3rd of the length of a Humpback's body) on the surface of the water. This is a communication behavior and this Humpback was probably signaling to the other Humpback Whales in the area.

Then suddenly this same Humpback Whale did three consecutive stunning Breaches!! It was an incredible sight and left all of us on board in stunned but ecstatic silence as we watched this 30-40 ton Whale launch itself out of the water:) This was an experience of a lifetime, a 1 in a thousand trips!