Western Prince Whale Watching

Written by Bethany
on May 23, 2022

Humpback Whales are back in the San Juan Islands!

Humpback Whales are back in the San Juan Islands!

Whale Report: May 2-8

As we continue into May here in the San Juan Islands, spring has definitely sprung and our sightings on whale watching trips have been excellent! We are seeing beautiful, lush views of wildflower fields on both Spieden Island and Yellow Island. Dozens of new baby Mouflon sheep have been seen frolicking through the fields on Spieden Island with their mothers and multiple bald eagles and other various birds can be spotted on almost every trip out! Another sign that spring is here and summer is fast approaching, are the return of the humpback whales! These animals migrate to their breeding grounds in Mexico and Hawaii for the winter and then return to feed in our cold, nutrient-rich waters during the spring, summer, and fall.

We had some of our first humpback whale encounter of the season already, spotting BCX1068 “Split Fluke” and CRC-19171 “Olympus” last week. “Split Fluke” is one of the humpbacks that we usually see return first to this area from her known breeding sight in Mexico. She was born in 2006 and has since had three known calves.

BCX1068 “Split Fluke” and CRC-19171 “Olympus”

In addition to these humpbacks, during the first week of May, we also spotted another well-known whale on multiple trips from Friday Harbor, BCY0324 “Big Mama”! This humpback whale was first spotted in the area in 1997 and has consistently returned to the Salish Sea every year since 2003! This year, she has returned with a calf! This is her 7th calf that we know of, since she first showed up all those years ago.

On May 2nd, our boat was the first to spot her and her calf, alerting the rest of the whale watching community in what is quickly becoming a beloved Salish Sea whale watching tradition, the official return of “Big Mama”! Naturalist Bethany was able to captures some photos of the humpback whale and her calf, traveling together.

BCY0324 “Big Mama” and her 7th calf

A few days later, the pair was spotted again in almost the exact same place! They were in beautifully calm waters, traveling together. Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, “Big Mama” did a huge breach followed by the little calf also doing a breach! It was spectacular to see both of them launch out of the water like that! “Big Mama” continued, doing several huge head lunges in a row, slapping her chin and body on the water and making a huge splash and noise! At the same time, the calf was also launching himself out and at one point, did several breaches almost completely out of the water! They say that for an adult humpback whale, the number of calories need to do just one breach is equivalent to the calories a human would need to run a marathon! Both of them did at least 4 breaches each so that is a lot of energy! Breaches from humpbacks in the Salish Sea are rare so it was such a treat to see these two do several together!

Since then, we have had almost daily sightings of various humpback whales around the area and a couple more sightings of “Big Mama” and her calf. If you’re interested in searching for humpback whales and any of the other amazing wildlife that the San Juan Islands has to offer, please feel free to email or call us with any questions about your next booking with Western Prince Whale Watching and Wildlife Tours.

Email: inquire@orcawhalewatch.com

Phone: 360-378-5315

Written by Bethany
on May 23, 2022

Humpback Whales are back in the San Juan Islands!

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