Written by Bethany
on Sep 07, 2025

Humpbacks!!

Humpbacks!!

September 3, 2025 – We decided to go south and checked out Whale Rocks where we spotted a very rare visitor to the San Juans, a sea otter! It was hanging out in the kelp near where a bunch of steller sea lions were also resting. We continued south towards Hein Bank where we briefly spotted a minke before getting word of a humpback whale on Middle Bank. The whale was milling in the currents and we got several good looks as it spent a lot of time at the surface. Naturalist Bethany was able to ID the whale from the dorsal fin as BCZ0345 “Victory”. Just as we were about to leave, another humpback whale popped up! This one was also feeding and fluked right as we departed, allowing Bethany to ID it as BCY0983 “Aerie”. Finally, as we were only 10 minutes from Friday Harbor, we spotted a third humpback whale traveling south in San Juan Channel! This whale was later ID’d as BCZ0414 “Zephyr”! What a trip! It was a double species day with three different humpback spotted and ID’d!

Photographer and Naturalist: Bethany Shimasaki – Instagram @Adventures.with.Bethany – Website: www.bethshim.com

Western Prince Wildlife Adventures – Instagram: @Westernprincewildlife – Facebook: Western Prince Whale Watching

Written by Bethany
on Sep 07, 2025

Humpbacks!!

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