As Labor Day weekend is upon us, it certainly felt like fall
out on the ocean today. The wind and sea
spray certainly cooled us down and the marine life was great! We first spotted a couple of harbor porpoises
but these little guys were a big shy and we quickly lost track of them. As we
continued on, we spotted the spouts of 2 fin whales ahead. As we got some closer looks, we could tell
that this was “Dingle” and his friend who were seen together yesterday! The friend is a whale we have seen several
times this season and will be added to our catalog this winter.
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| Fin Whale Spout |
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| Fin whale swirly chevron marking |
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| Fin whale stretching out |
Why are these whales together for an extended amount of
time? We aren’t quite sure. There is
quite a lot that we don’t understand or know about fin whale behavior.
Generally, they hang out alone, but now and then they seek the company of
others. Whatever the pairing was all about, we were happy to see them and watch
as they surfaced repeatedly around the boat, taking short dives and not moving
very far.
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| 2 Fin Whales, Dingle and his friend! |
Also in the area were at least 2 minke whales. The minkes
are a little quicker at the surface making them a bit trickier to see, but one
of them swam right across the bow, apparently wanting to be seen!
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| Minke Whale |
As we headed home, we got word that a pod of Atlantic white
sided dolphins was in the area. We detoured slightly and were treated to some
phenomenal views of this pod (50-75 dolphins!).
The dolphins are always more playful and willing to be seen than the
porpoises. We saw some of the big males cruise right alongside us, while the
mothers with calves were curious too! These dolphins were really interested in
the boat and even played in our wake a bit as we left! Atlantic white sided
dolphins are normally seen on about 25% of our whale watching trips, but this
year they have been elusive making today’s sighting even more exciting for us!
Such a great day on the water! Thanks to all of you for joining us! Happy Labor Day weekend!
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