Saturday, September 6

Our travels today were full of whales as we spent time offshore with plenty to see. Our trip started out with a pair of Humpback whales slowly on the move. It was Valley and Chablis, both of which we had seen just yesterday spending time on the move together, were once again swimming side by side today.

Valley

Humpback whale rain-blow!

Chablis and Valley

We got some great looks at this pair before we decided to go do some searching a bit further offshore. We briefly checked out a Minke whale on the move before once again spotting another spout. It was Patches the Humpback whale.

Patches

As we sat watching this whale we saw another animal just off our left side. It was a different type of whale, a Fin whale. We were about to check out this massive creature when suddenly everything changed. As we were awaiting for either of these whales to return back up to the surface we saw 4 spouts coming right in towards us. A group of FOUR Fin whales were on the move together. To see baleen whales traveling along together is not something we see everyday but to see a pair of Humpback whales earlier and now be watching 4 even larger mammals moving in synchrony pass by the boat was awesome. Oh but to make it even more "fin-tastic" was the fact that there was a small pod of 8-10 Atlantic white-sided dolphins moving along with all of these Fin whales.

Fin whale head with an Atlantic white-sided dolphin just off its snout!

Watching these toothed-whales (dolphins) whom average between 6-8ft in length swim along with these Fin whales that easily reach over 60ft long was absolutely incredible!

Two of the four Fin whales in our group with a dolphin at the surface in between the two!

As we watched this grouping of toothed and baleen whales make their way through the area we were still seeing Patches the Humpback whale nearby. At one point the dolphins/Fin whale group literally passed just beyond where Patches was spending time at the surface. Suddenly Patches decided to get a bit active. This whale started to roll on its side and smack its flipper on the surface over and over again.

Patches' large white flipper!

Patches "belly-up" with both of its flippers above the waterline

We even saw a single tail breach from this Humpback whale. As we spent time watching all of this activity continue we also saw out in the distance two other Humpback whales. Six was traveling along and Owl was circling not far away. There was so much going on even the dolphins were darting all around. We watched this pod of dolphins move from the group of Fin whales to circle around Patches and eventually were associated with Owl. So much to see, so much going on, so many wild animals! The real question is what in the world is going to happen when we are back out there again? Only time will tell. Stay tuned!

Full of whales and full of rain-blows today!