Friday, August 24, 2018

Friday morning we started our trip off with a huge pod of Atlantic white sided dolphins! At least 200 were all around us. We have definitely lucked out recently with dolphin sightings. In a typical year, we only see them on 20-25% of trips!  Recently, they have been nearly a daily occurrence.   (Of course, now that I said that, we probably won’t see any more for the rest of the season…)  

 

Soon after, we spotted a blow in the distance. As soon as we got close to the whale creating that blow, it jumped out of the water repeatedly. Then another whale jumped! This one was a calf! Yet another humpback surfaced as well. Our Tremendous Trio was still in the area! Spoon, her calf, and Jabiru!  

 More dolphins were seen milling around the area as were a few minke whales!  Nearby, two more humpbacks were spotted, Geometry and Fan! 

Yet a few more minke whales and even some harbor porpoises were seen on our trip home.

This afternoon, we checked out an area just north of where we had whales in the morning. If we don’t search around, we’ll never know what else might be swimming through. Well, we didn’t find much there. So we headed back to where we had been.  Before we got there, our new deckhand, Lauri, spotted our first whales!  These were humpback whales named Victim and Ravine- both females.  

A minke passed by and several more minke whales were seen during the trip. We saw some breaching in the distance and eventually motored over there to find the Tremendous Trio yet again! 

Spoon, calf and Jabiru under the boat!

But this time Jabiru was visiting with some of the other whales in the neighborhood. She was seen with Geometry briefly, and then later joined up with Victim and Ravine!  

Jabiru

Before she took off with her new friends, she tail-breached and tail lobbed a few times!  Thanks for the excitement, Jabiru!