Olivia Ellman | M/V Osprey | July 9th, 2025 | 12:30 PM
Despite the gloomy forecast as we left Friday Harbor, spirits were high and we were ready to take in the beauty of the grey and cloudy islands. We had reports of a few humpback whales heading north by the Canadian border, so we went full speed in that direction to try to catch up with them. We traveled north and then west into Spieden Channel, scanning the coastlines and different bodies of water along the way. We found some harbor seals hauled out on one of the small islands in the area, getting great looks at our first marine mammal sighting of the trip! As we continued north, we reached Turn Point on Stuart Island and entered into the Haro Strait and Boundary Pass. We pushed on even further into Canada, and eventually began to see a blow in the distance. As we got closer looks, we recognized it as a humpback whale exhalation, and were excited to notice two individuals traveling together! Based on reports from other boats, this was identified as the humpback named Olympus with her 2025 calf. Olympus is the granddaughter of the famous Big Mama, so it was extra exciting to see some of her relatives with calves of their own and get to see this extensive humpback family tree.
We slowly creeped into the area, ensuring to give this mom and calf plenty of space in the area. It was amazing seeing the two of them surface together, especially seeing the difference in size. We watched the pair slowly travel and take breaths at the surface, with mom Olympus taking shallow dives along the way. Even though they seemed quite sleepy, they were traveling close to 6 knots with the strong current, so we were still moving pretty quickly north. Right as we were thinking it was about time to start turning around, we finally got to see a fluking dive from Olympus! Her calf followed close behind, giving an adorable attempt at a fluking dive to try to keep up with mom. This typically signals that the whale is going on a deeper dive, so it was a perfect last look at mom and baby before we had to leave.
We looped around Pender Island, taking a scenic coastal route and continuing to scan for wildlife along the way. Some passengers began spotting a number of harbor porpoise at the surface! This was another great marine mammal sighting of these “bonus cetaceans”, and we got some great looks before they disappeared just as quickly as we found them. We continued the rest of the way south, across Boundary Pass and back to San Juan Channel, ending another lovely afternoon whale watch.