Beautiful day on the ocean today! We found at least 4 different minke whales
this morning including our good friend, Scar!
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Scar!! |
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Another minke whale friend! |
Scar is a minke who was first
observed in 1995, and has a very distinctive scar on his back in front of his
fin, and a second linear scar just aft of his blowholes. Scar is one of Blue Ocean Society’s adoptable
whales and always great to see. We got a few looks at him before we headed off to investigate a blow further out. We found a fin whale near another whale watch boat. This
whale initially was on the move, screaming around at over 12 knots. But after a bit of time, the whale settled
right down, possibly to feed, and gave us some incredible looks. To make things
even better, this was a whale we also knew!
Fin whale #9709 (aka Squiggle) has a bit of a reputation for coming close to our boat,
and she certainly proved that today.
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Fin whale #9709's squiggly fin |
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Fin whale #9709's close approach |
Several times, she came up close by and
once even turned to approach us!
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Incoming! |
It still amazes me to see wild animals seemingly
curious about us! On our way home, we
passed a harbor seal and a small group of harbor porpoises.
Another amazing trip with fin and minke whales this afternoon. First, we
found a pair of fin whales along with a minke whale. The fin whales were together,
then split up for a bit before getting back together.
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Fin whale #0354 and friend |
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Fin whale #0354's distinctive chevron/blaze marking |
At one point, our fish
finder found our whales right below the boat! Check out this huge patch of bait
on the machine and at the bottom of the bait, you can see the outlines of 2 whales! So cool!!
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Close approach by #0354 |
We did a bit more searching and found another minke whale! Beautiful conditions today to view these incredible wild whales!