One reason to take a trip up BC's Inside Passage (see below) is to witness scenes like this.
The vessel was dawdling up Blackfish Sound near the top of Vancouver Island when this adolescent humpback decided to put on a show. It was with us for about half an hour, breeching and fin slapping and generally showing off. Coincidentally (or was it?) we were just passing by Orca Lab, a research station on Hanson Island where so much ground-breaking work has been done on the whales.
A couple more images from what was a marvellous excursion,
