A salty sail to see a humpback whale

July 17, 2023 – On our evening sail we headed south, because a humpback whale known as BCY0409 “Yogi” was said to be traveling north from MacArthur Bank. We stayed close to the Lopez side to keep out of the flooding current. As we neared Deadman Island we were pushing the engine to make it out of Cattle Pass but we were doing about 1-2 knots. The seas were building and it was very lively around Whale Rocks where the Steller sea lions were hauled out. The passengers were game to keep going so we pressed on.

The humpback unfortunately had turned back south and we tried to catch up with the 4’ seas. We could see the blows as he surfaced. Just as we thought we were there almost parallel with him, he vanished on us. Not surprising to lose a whale in those kind of seas… So we spun around and had to point into the waves. The spray was coming over the bow getting everything and everyone salty. It was a wild ride. Cattle Pass had 5’ confused seas at this point. It was a fun, memorable experience for all of us!