Kelly | October 13th, 2026 | M/V Osprey | 1:30 pm
With nothing but an expired humpback whale sighting to follow up on, we slipped out of Friday Harbor and into San Juan Channel on this gorgeously moody autumn afternoon. Cruising quickly up the channel, eventually slowing around two large bait balls just off White Rock. Bait balls are tight concentrations of small schooling fish that attract a frenzy flock of gulls and other sea birds. We shut the engine off and waited for any signs of other wildlife that might also be around opportunistically feeding on the bait fish. Soon an exhale appeared in the distance closer to Waldron Island! A juvenile humpback known as “Greenie” aka BCC0050, surfaced slowly in the calm mirror-like water just off Waldrons Cowlitz Bay. A few quick exhales punctuated with a gorgeous tail fluke rising from the water, a cascading waterfall spilling off the tail as it flipped upright and slowly sunk into the sea. In this moment we were able to confirm this whale’s identity. Every humpback tail fluke is unique like a fingerprint, born with a pattern of black and white on the underside that accumulates scares and scrapes as they age. We watched this small humpback surfaces on a few more cycles, always flipping the tail fluke up as it sunk down on longer deeper dives. We then moved back into scanning mode as we cruised past Stewart Island’s scenic Turn Point Lighthouse, curling down tight to shore and eventually over to Spieden Island. Along the way, we enjoyed numerous looks at our ever so elusive harbor porpoise and a variety of seasonal migratory sea birds. We finished our tour with great looks at all three non-native ungulates that occupy Spieden Island (mouflon sheep, fallow deer, and sika deer), all enjoying the cool fall weather and abundance of new rain-fed growth.