Recent trips have provided plenty of wildlife. On both the morning and afternoon trips on Monday we checked out multiple fin whales and humpback whales. The fin whales were spending long periods of time under the water and sleekly surfacing in all different directions.
 |
| Fin whale |
There were seven fin whales, four humpback whales (Clamp, Spoon, Patches and Nike) and, after almost an entire month, a pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins.
 |
| Distant look at Spoon flipper slapping |
 |
| Clamp and Patches resting at the surface |
 |
| Atlantic white-sided dolphin |
Birds were scouring the skies from above working a few patches of areas near the whales.
 |
| Terns and shearwaters busy trying to catch fish! |
The afternoon managed to compile of similar sights we saw during the morning trip but timing couldn't have been better. After checking out Zorro the humpback whale we found ourselves literally surrounded by whales. The whales move to where the fish are and apparently we were in the right spot! Fin whales were surfacing all around, some close, some out in the distance.
 |
| Fin whale surfacing |
Humpback whales were forming associations with each other, lunging through the water occasionally, while the birds were at the ready to snatch up any scraps left behind.
 |
| Humpback whale |
 |
| Whale spout among lots of birds |
At least 10 fin whales were around (including a group of four!) Patches, Nike and Clamp the humpback whales were swimming in circles and a pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins went through the middle of all the activity. It was whale-pandemonium!
 |
| Can you find the dolphin creeping into the picture of a humpback whale diving? |
 |
| Clamp breached multiple times! |
Tuesday morning was full of fin whales. We saw eight in total! There were also lots of shearwaters with a grand slam of species! We even wrapped up the trip with a small pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins.
 |
| Fin whale |
 |
| Shearwaters |
 |
| Fin whale |
 |
| Dolphin! |
On the afternoon trip we headed to similar areas and found slightly different whales. First we found an ocean sunfish on our way offshore.
 |
| Ocean sunfish |
Zorro the humpback whale was spotted and then we spent time with Clamp and Nike the humpback whales before checking out a pair of fin whales.
 |
| Humpback whale |
 |
| Lunge feeding whale |
A third fin whale was in the area while the pair was busy circling around getting some great looks at these large, sometimes feeding, whales!
 |
| Fin whale |
 |
| Lunge feeding fin whales |
Even when you think sightings couldn't provide more of their own excitement, they do! On Wednesday morning the trip started with an ocean sunfish. It breached! Everything likes to "fly" 😊
 |
| An ocean sunfish jumping out of the water! |
We then saw two different humpback whales and four fin whales. Clamp and Nike were being active at the surface, and even in the distance, these behaviors were impressive to see.
 |
| Flipper slapping humpback whale |
 |
| Humpback whale diving |
 |
| Filtering humpback whale |
We spent most of our time while watching fin whales with a pair, lunging through the water, feeding on occasion.
 |
| Fin whale |
 |
| Fin whale upside down lunging through the water! |
During the afternoon we saw four fin whales and again checked out a pair. This pair would lunge through the water every few surfacings as we got some incredible looks as they circled all around us!
 |
| Fin whale pair (above and below) |
 |
| Fin whale swimming next to the boat! |
No comments:
Post a Comment