Humpback whale calf seen off Big Island found near Washington State, 3 years later

The calf of a humpback whale documented by a Big Island tour company in 2021 has been sighted in waters off Washington State.

Hawaiian Adventures Kona photographed the humpback whale and its calf during a whale-watching tour in March of 2021. After snapping a photo of the whale’s flukes and submitting it to citizen science platform Happywhale, they identified the individual as CRC-16613, or “Dreamer.”

Dreamer has multiple nicknames specific to the regions she’s visited, including “Sherwina” in California, “Lonestar” in British Columbia and “Dreamer” in the Salish Sea. These more temperate waters are the feeding grounds where humpbacks can be found during the late spring, summer and fall months of the year.

The waters surrounding the Hawaiian Islands are known breeding and birthing areas for multiple populations of humpback whales across the globe. Humpbacks have one of the longest mammal migrations on the planet with some migrating 5,000 miles between temperate and tropical waters.

This month, three years later, Hawaiian Adventure’s sister company, Island Adventures in Washington State, identified Dreamer’s calf in the Salish Sea. Now a three-year-old juvenile, this whale has been given the scientific ID CRC-20243.

According to Happywhale data, the juvenile had also been sighted off Kawaihae Harbor on the Big Island of Hawai‘i in 2024, likely the same coastline that they were born along.

“It was an incredible full-circle moment,” said Sam Murphy of Island Aventures, who photographed the humpback whale in the Salish Sea. “To see how much this beautiful whale had grown in the years since it was first documented, and to see that they seemed to be doing well was such a heartwarming experience.”

As winter approaches, humpback whales will once again return to Hawaiian Island waters.