Humpback Whale Breaching

Today while on tour, we had the pleasure of watching a humpback whale breach multiple times over a relatively short period of time.  We had seen the whale near the entrance to Redoubt Bay and watched it there for a few minutes before moving south to view some Sea Otters at Fragrance Island.  While we were watching it the first time, it was behaving in a manner that seems typical for the whales I’ve seen this summer.  It would make series of short shallow dives, surfacing every few seconds, before making a deeper dive and staying down for several minutes.

On our way back north, we were going to take a look at a gray whale that had been spotted by another Allen Marine vessel.  As we were approaching the area where the gray whale had been seen, the humpback whale breached in the distance (though within sight). It started waving its pectoral flukes in the air and rolling, with both a pectoral fluke and tail fluke showing out of water.   The gray whale did not seem nearly as charismatic as this active humpback, so we went towards the humpback to get a better look at its activities.  While we, a couple of other Allen Marine boats, and a smaller boat or two that were in the area watched, this whale repeatedly breached. It was pretty amazing. I have included some of the photos below.

To all the Red Hat Society ladies who were on the tour with us and read this entry, I hope you enjoyed the rest of your trip.  It was fun having you on tour.