Written by Bethany
on Jun 06, 2023

Whale Report: May 27, 2023 –  Big Mama and Valiant!

Whale Report: May 27, 2023 – Big Mama and Valiant!

May 27, 2023 AM – Today we headed towards the northern part of the San Juan Islands. We didn’t have any preliminary reports so we started searching. We stopped at the beautiful Patos Island Lighthouse and got a lovely look with the mountains in the background. As we continued on, we got a report that there were two humpback whales only a few miles further north so off we went! It turned out to be two very well-known and iconic Salish Sea Humpbacks, BCY0324 “Big Mama” and BCX1773 “Valiant”. They were traveling together along the shoreline of Tumbo Island. “Big Mama” is the first humpback whale that was spotted in the Salish Sea in over 100 years after this species was hunted to extinction in the area! She was first spotted in 1997 and has been seen almost every year since then! “Valiant” was named that because they survived a killer whale attack when they were a calf and have the teeth rake marks and missing fluke tips to prove it! While we were watching them, suddenly, we got a huge breach from “Big Mama” followed by another breach by “Valiant”! A double breach! It was incredible to see the two of them fully out of the water! Humpback breaches are incredibly rare! We were all smiles on the way back to Friday Harbor after a wonderful encounter!

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 Jun 06, 2023

Whale Report: May 27, 2023 –  Big Mama and Valiant!

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