Wednesday, August 3

Starting your day surrounded by flat calm seas never gets old especially when you get the chance to spend time with some wild whales. This morning, along with the 2 Harbor seals we saw during our travels, we also had 12 Minke whales and 4 Fin whales.

Fin whale barely making a disturbance as its surfaces for a breath of air this morning

Our first stop of the day included a pair of Fin whales and 3 Minke whales all in the same area. Unfortunately, as magically as these whales appeared they disappeared just as fast. After 25 minutes in the area we still had yet to relocate the Fin whale pair. So instead, we decided to check out a few of the Minke whales in the area before venturing on. Next, we found ourselves spending time with a different large Fin whale known to us as #0802; a whale first sighted in our area in 2008.

Fin whale #0802

With more time to search and pristine conditions to search in we continued on to see more Minke whales, including Scar Minke, before ending the trip with some incredible looks at Crow the Fin whale.

Scar Minke

Fin whale beyond the Isles of Shoals

Crow the Fin whale's uniquely-shaped dorsal fin

This afternoon we found ourselves a mile from where we been with Crow this morning but that whale was nowhere to be found. In just a matter of hours Crow had disappeared and instead Owl the Humpback was circling around the area!

Owl

Owl swimming in towards us!

That's right, in just a short period of time whales can move in, or out, of an area all at a moment's notice. We watched Owl create a few bubble clouds while a Harbor seal and Minke whale appeared near by, before heading off to do some more exploring.

Harbor seal looking at us

In total, we ended up finding 4 Minke whales before ending the day with a quick look at so many seals spending time on the rocks of Boon Island.

Minke whale

Can you find the seals that blend in so well to the color of the rocks?

So many seals basking on the rocks of Boon Island