Well, that was different...

No reports of Orcas today.  A half hour before our departure time, we got a report of a humpback not far away, and moving closer.  I like that.

The reports put the humpback heading towards Pole Pass (near Deer Harbor).  For some perspective, the pass is about 25 - 30 feet deep, less than 75 yards wide at the narrowest point.  Here is an interesting article about "Places You DON'T Want To Visit In The San Juans"...

http://www.usps.org/seattle/images/links/10PlacesYouDont%20Want%20To%20Visit.pdf

For the record - most of those places are places we like to go.  But, back to the humpback.  I have never seen a humpback go through Pole Pass.  No other captain I visited with has seen a humpback go through Pole Pass.  The tide was changing and the current was ripping - makes me wonder if this humpy got close and just "went with the flow."

We had positioned ourselves on the west side of the pass, hoping that he would come through... turned out to be a good position.  The whale was doing 5 minute dives with 3 surfaces - on the second sequence of that, he popped up right next to our boat!  As in: guests were getting some "whale spit" on them.

Certainly not the plan, since the humpback changed direction on the long dive.  When it was far enough away to start up the engine again, we paced the whale as it moved between islands, then turned towards Presidents Channel.  No, I didn't have my camera out of my bag.

From there, we went in search of other wildlife - saw eagles, seals, and had a bunch of harbor porpoise swimming around the boat.

A pretty fine day for not seeing Orcas.