June 11, 2020 – An early morning report came in of a humpback whale coming down San Juan Channel towards Friday Harbor. Off we went to go see who it was.
As we approached Reid Rock we spotted the exhale of the whale near Pt Caution. We raised the main sail and had a great sail pointing into wind down the channel on the ebb. The humpback would surface for only two breaths before arching its back to go back down for a deep dive. We managed to get one tail fluke photo and identified it as BCY0771 aka “Bump”. We sailed parallel to the whale mid channel until we reached Big Rock and decided to change course back for home. This may be our first sighting of this whale.
Route Map 6-11-20
BCY0771 “Bump” tail fluke
BCY0771 “Bump” with a big exhale after a long dive
BCY0771 traveling alongside Turn Island
BCY0771 left dorsal fin
BCY0771 traveling down San Juan Channel
BCY0771 traveling down San Juan Channel
BCY0771 right dorsal fin
BCY0771 with what looks like an old injury forward of the dorsal fin
BCY0771 right dorsal
Harbor seals resting in the sunshine
Bald eagle on Turn Rock marker
Sailing downwind back towards Friday Harbor
Barbara posing with her “bump” after meeting the humpback “Bump”