Heather & Raptor Pass Harbor

Heather and Raptor

A call from a friend that lives on the water around the corner from Friday Harbor let me know that humpbacks were going by his place. They continued south, and Heather & Raptor Pass Harbor by and continue south. This pair of cetaceans have been running with each other for a couple of years at least.

If you look at their tail flukes, you will see the Goose Barnacles that tent to grow on humpbacks flukes. One of them has a protrusion on its right side fluke that looks like a missile.

Whales in San Juan Channel

I left the harbor and met up with them just past the harbor on their way south. We watched them travel down the channel for a while. A WDFW vessel was inbound and saw us going slow, realizing we had animals near us.

I shot a couple of pics of David and Barbara Howitt on their sailing vessel “Peniel” and the Whale Watching Flag flown from their mast. That is the best visibility I have seen from any of our vessels. We fly this flag when we are near whales to inform pleasure boaters that whales are present, and they should slow down and navigate with caution.

David and Barbara are our colleagues here in Friday Harbor, and genuinely good people to know and be around. Barbara and I went through the same naturalist training classes five years ago. If you want a relaxing sailing adventure with All Aboard Sailing, give them a call to arrange your voyage.

After a bit, we idled out of the area, leaving them with arriving vessels to view these beautiful whales. We enjoyed seeing Heather & Raptor Pass Harbor move on down the channel. They provided us with lots of surface time and fluking each time they dove. The downtime was not very long, though. They were a joy to see today.