11-11-15 Humpback Breaching

Heading south near Rotary Beach at 20 knots when a very large humpback breached completely out of the water with absolutely no prior warning.  It was pretty shocking, to say the least, as previous to this we had not seen any activity in the area.  After the breach, it did a few tail slaps, showed its pectoral fins while feeding, then poof headed north through the Tongass Narrows at about 3-4mph.
We lost site of it when the Coast Guard boarded our boat, then saw it again on the opposite side of the channel.

Later in the afternoon we spotted a lone humpback way out by Annette Bay, but due to wind/waves, did not go out to look at it.

Click on photos for larger.  

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Full resolution pics in gallery below.