Friday September 20

It was a picture perfect day: calm seas, sunny skies and plenty of whales around to watch. 4 Fin whales, 5 Humpback whales, 8 Minke whales and a handful of Harbor seals and a Gray seal rounded out the plethora of life offshore today.

Fin whale swimming through the flat calm ocean

Everyone was out on such a beautiful day. Fin whale going on a deeper dive while a fishing boat hauls up its gear

Many of the whales we saw were either slowly moving through the area or just circling around allowing for some quality time spent with so many species. 

Such a distinctive dorsal fin on this Minke whale (so distinctive we know we've seen this whale multiple times this year!)

First Fin whale of the day (above and below) showing us so much of its enormous body!

Some whales were so relaxed they were actually napping at the surface just hovering along on the water's edge. This was the case with most of the Humpback whales we spent time with. Our first Humpback whale was a new sighting for us this season. Trowel is once again in our neck of the ocean.

Trowel above and below

We saw this whale last year but have yet to have any sightings of this animal this year so it was a nice surprise to find Trowel moving through the area. We even got a chance to spend a little bit of time with Patches before ending our trip with a trio of napping whales.

Humpback whales slowly gliding past us

Valley, her calf, and Cacophony were not only still moving around the ocean together (we saw this same trio yesterday!) they were all resting. 

Trio of Humpback whales resting at the surface

With such minimal movements we could just sit there with our engines shut off giving us some incredible looks at the "small" calf and two adult whales. 

Valley and her calf (Valley has the rounded/almost lack of dorsal fin on her back)

Valley

Cacophony

All in all a wonderful day out on the water gazing at some incredible creatures.

Valley's calf waking up to poke its nose above the water