Thursday, August 9, 2018

Thursday was a fun day of whale watching!  In the morning, we spotted a few minke whales before finding 4 fin whales! These whales were in the same area, but not hanging out together. We could tell they were 4 different whales just based on the fin shapes which were very different from each other.  One of these was a whale named Bolshoi, first seen in 1980! He has scars from both a boat strike as well as an entanglement!  

Another of the fin whales had no dorsal fin at all. That may have been due to an entanglement. 

The third whale had entanglement scars behind its fin. 

As I said on the boat, these whales face many threats, and these whales with the scars are the lucky ones….who survived.

Next we found a pair of humpback whales. This was Spoon and her 11^th documented calf!  As we were leaving these to, a fin whale popped up close by! This turned out to be one of the 4 we were watching earlier! The whales really get around! 

Another pair of humpbacks was seen next: Jabiru and her 2^nd calf! They only were spotted briefly before heading on their way.

We checked out another area on our way home and found a big pod of Atlantic white sided dolphins feeding while hundreds of birds were soaring and diving, also feeding on the school of fish!  Four species of shearwaters were seen in this frenzy along with a jaeger, some Wilson’s storm petrels and of course gulls.

This afternoon, we found a pod of about 25 Atlantic white sided dolphins. The birds weren’t with them but we got some great looks as they swam close to our boat!

We saw a couple of tall spouts in the distance but never actually found the whales that were creating them. I assume they were fin whales, but we will never know.    We moved on to see 2 pairs of humpback whales nearby. These were the same pairs that we saw on the morning trip, but now they were all together!  

After a brief look at Jabiru and her calf, the calf decided to venture off on its own, leaving just the 2 moms and one calf. Spoon’s calf breached clear out of the water! Then the youngster began to roll at the surface, slapping its flippers on the water and slashing its tail back and forth. 

This may be been the calf’s way of letting Spoon know that it was hungry and wanted to nurse.  While we waited for this group to resurface, several minke whales were spotted close by as well!  Great day!