Wednesday, July 13

The ocean had a few toothed-whale surprises in store for us today. This morning we checked out a group of Harbor porpoise that were doing donuts around us; an extremely unusual event to get such great looks at these small whales!

A Harbor porpoise. These whales only reach about 5 feet in length!

We headed offshore and then spent time with some continued visitors to the area. Humpback whales #0050 and Quill are still around.

Humpback whale #0050

Our Humpback whales were creating bubble clouds, including this one that appeared right next to the boat!

After some great looks at these whales meandering around we did some more exploring. We ended up finding 4 Minke whales and 3 Fin whales.

Fin whale

You can barely see ANY of this massive Fin whale as it sleekly surfaces for a breath of air!

We even saw one of our Fin whales create a bubble cloud, a feeding mechanism that is known only to be seen regularly by Humpback whales! This afternoon our first sighting of the day were more toothed-whales. Our eagle-eyed captain spotted a group of Atlantic white-sided dolphins, our first sighting of these whales this season! What a phenomenal way to start the trip.

Atlantic white-sided dolphin!

Atlantic white-sided dolphin moving through the windy waves

These whales ended up staying close by, riding down the building waves as we watched them cruise all around us!

Dolphin fins with White Island in the background

Eventually we were on our way and once again got a chance to spend time with Humpback whales #0050 and Quill. A nice ending to our day.

Humpback whale tail

Quill

'Wicked' whale watching this afternoon