We had a whale of a day today!  You knew that cliché was coming, but hear me out.  It really was superb.  The fleet turned east into Otter Sound and there were humpback whales all over.  Three whales were particularly active, concussing the water continuously for perhaps a half hour.  Humpbacks do this to stun the small fish they eat.  Having a twenty-ton whale do a belly-flop on you would stun just about anything.

These whales were breaching, jumping into the air and crashing back, causing a huge splash.  They were “pec slapping” raising their long pectoral fins out of the water and slapping them down over and over to again to create more concussions.  Then they were “tail lobbing” standing on their heads with their giant tails out of the water and then crashing their flukes into the sea.  The poor herring must have been positively dizzy after this depth-charging by the whales, making them easy prey.  Doug on Bonum Vitae said he got at least 200 pictures.  Jack on Thea got a fluke picture that he is going to submit to researchers to see if they can identify the individual animal.  It was a truly spectacular display.

And then there were whales by Gil Island.  And whales in Boxer Reach.  There were even whales in Bishop Bay where we anchored!  Every boat seemed to have its personal show at one time or another.  Exhausted by the cetacean show, Thea took a break to go fishing for much smaller creatures and the crews of three boats headed in to the hot springs.  Thankfully, there were no whales in the hot tubs, perhaps the only body of water without them in this area.