Saturday, July 8

This morning we headed back to where we saw whales yesterday afternoon. Sometimes we get lucky and the whales don’t stray that far from day to day. Other times, we end up searching miles and miles of ocean to find whales. Today we got lucky.  Soon after pulling up to the area where we found whales yesterday afternoon, we spotted our first blow.  This was the humpback known as Pinball!  After not seeing her for several weeks, we were thrilled to have her back in our neighborhood.  

Pinball with a tuna boat

 Minkes whales were abundant as well and surprised us several times with their close approaches. A few porpoises were spotted early in the trip, and then a couple of harbor seals were seen later on. Amongst all the whales were dozens of tuna boats. Two of these boats had caught big tunas while we were there watching the whales.

Minke whale

Minke whale diving straight to the bottom on our "fish finder".

This afternoon, dark and stormy skies followed us out to the whale feeding area. 

This squall finally caught up with us, providing us with a small glimpse of what Mother Nature can do. Winds picked up, rain poured down, but in about 10 minutes, the storm passed and all was clear. 

Our trip brought us sunny skies and even warm winds on our way home! Pinball the humpback was seen darting around the area, but then she settled down as boats left and gave us some amazing views as we just sat drifting in place while she surfaced repeatedly around the boat. This is how whale watching should be!