Sunday May 27th

As has been the case so far this season, whether it is an entire week later or only 24hrs later, the whales around Jeffreys Ledge are doing a great job changing things up for us!  The thrill of the unexpected keeps us hooked and just when you think you can anticipate where the whales might be, they go and remind us we are very much in the dark.  You might think creatures weighing well over 20 tons would be easy to keep track of but if you then take into consideration how vast of an area they call "home" for the Spring through Fall seasons, it becomes a whole new ballgame.  Luckily having underwater geographical features that ultimately provide the beginnings of massive amounts of food sources for whales, and also resides quite close to us land mammals, definitely provides a good place to look for these creatures of the deep.  It was a day in which animals that had been seen less than 24hrs beforehand had vanished as far as we could determine (at least in the small amount of time we took to the sea!) and different individuals once again made themselves known elsewhere.

We ended up spending time with 4 Humpback whales all of which are individuals we have yet to see thus far this season.  The first tail we spotted was a whale we knew instantly. 

Chickadee

Chickadee had returned again, a whale that had spent many days on Jeffreys Ledge last year feeding and even becoming air-borne a few times throughout the 2011 season.  Chickadee wasn't the only one around the area as it turned out two other Humpback whales were zig-zagging all around.  All 3 whales were holding their breaths for a while and each time they surfaced, all three whales were in completely different orientations from each other than previously seen.  We were able to get some nice looks at two of the three, as the third animal was being a bit more elusive for us.  Turns out the other animal was Cosmos as our friends aboard the Prince of Whales had passed along the news! 

Cosmos

Cosmos' tip of its head above the waterline

Before heading for home we even got the chance to see Highlighter the Humpback whale passing through the area.

Highlighter on the move

Our last sighting of Highlighter was during the start of the 2010 whale watching season so we enjoyed having the chance to see this particular Humpback whale back in our area once again!   For now we will all be waiting in anticipation to see just what, and where, the whales will be next weekend!