Our First Humpback!!!

Sunday, May 23 …

Saturday was rainy and grey, and after continuing up Johnstone Strait toward the northern tip of Vancouver Island we anchored in Port Alexander, on the SE side of Nigei Island. We shared the anchorage with a cute fishing trawler, Cinnabar, that had also shared anchorage with us in Port Harvey.

Sunday was the day we left the protection of Vancouver Island and hit open waters, heading north in the Queen Charlotte Strait …. And it didn’t take long to determine these waters could kick butt!

Despite great weather, we experienced 4-6-foot swells that had us rising and dropping, and anything not stowed away soon was. We saw about 8 other boats heading north with us, each trying to find the best place in the water to minimize the swells. No such luck. Even Lovie was feeling a bit seasick.

The swells disappeared once we got behind Calvert Island, heading toward Hunter Island in the Strait, and we had our first whale siting of the cruise!!! A couple of humpback whales were spouting and as we got closer we were able to see them breach. I was taken by the absolute gracefulness of such huge animals as they surfaced and dove back down in the waters, flipping their large tails in their descent. Needless to say, the whales were the highlight of the day.

We anchored Sunday evening in Mustang Bay on the SE side of Hunter Island.