On the 9 am trip we arrived on the southwest corner to flat flat seas and great visibility. We spotted a group of whales that seemed to be doing some pectoral slapping and moved in to check it out. This was by far the best decision of the day. We found Spoon and her 2015 calf as well as Flamingo’s 2014 calf pectoral fin slapping and rolling around. Both Flamingo’s 2014 calf and Spoon’s 2015 calf decided to swim right under the boat, and this whale watch went to “woah” levels of awesome very very quickly. 

 Flamingo’s 2014 spent the next 20 minutes slowly swimming under the boat, rolling to look at us and just hanging nose to the boat for all to see. As a naturalist I almost never get to experience whales from the first deck or the bow but today I was just another excited whale watcher hanging over the rail to get a glimpse of this amazing animal. No picture can capture truly capture the moment of going eye to eye with a humpback whale!

Our 2pm trip was much more a normal affair. The seas had picked up a tiny bit and we headed out again to find a few more humpbacks in the area scattered throughout in small groups logging or taking dives. 

We were able to identify Nile, Wizard’s 2014 calf, Flamingo’s 2014 calf, among the whales in the area. 

Overall it was day that I’m not likely to forget anytime soon.

— Tegan