Saturday, July 30

Beautiful day on the ocean today!  We found at least 4 different minke whales this morning including our good friend, Scar! 

Scar!!

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. 

Fin whale #9709's squiggly fin

Fin whale #9709's close approach

 Several times, she came up close by and once even turned to approach us! 

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.

Fin whale #0354 and friend

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!! 

 

Close approach by #0354

 We did a bit more searching and found another minke whale! Beautiful conditions today to view these incredible wild whales!