Sunday, September 27

What a difference a day makes! We attempted to search for whales yesterday but were sent home early by steep waves and lots of wind.  Today, just a low roll was leftover and the whales were still around the same areas where we had them earlier in the week!  We had some very quick looks at harbor porpoises and a harbor seal on our trip out. Then we spotted some blows.  Humpback whales Shuffleboard and her calf were here again, and the calf was pretty playful as Shuffleboard took longer dives. The calf would roll at the surface, lifting its flipper up, and then bring its head up pretty high out of the water to get a good look around. At one point, the calf came right over to the boat and we could see the whole whale underwater, right next to us! Amazing.

Shuffleboard's calf- see the eye??

We continued on to some more blows nearby. These were from a trio of humpbacks, Owl, her calf, and Geometry. The adults would dive and Owl’s calf would lounge at the surface, often playing with seaweed. The behavior is technically known as “kelping”. It was really fun to watch this little whale make tight turns to target the seaweed! 

Owl and her calf

Owl's calf playing with seaweed

Owl

Owl

An ocean sunfish was in the area as well but it dove soon after we attempted to get some views of it. The sunfish have been quite prevalent this summer.

Next we headed towards the fleet of tuna boats where we had spotted a blow earlier. Although we never found this lone whale, we did re-sight Shuffleboard and her calf along with a minke whale and harbor seal before it was time to head for home.   The day was really such a welcomed change from yesterday!