During the morning trip on Saturday we were privy to a behavior I find so spectacular. It may not sound impressive, but seeing a fin whale actively feed is so incredible. One of the second largest mammals on earth maximizing on the plethora of food over and over again.
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| Fin whale filtering out saltwater! |
Moving around, circling back and forth, filtering massive amounts of salt water, this fin whale was busy all the while we were in the area. Such a cool experience watching an everyday kind of activity these mammals need to accomplish in order to survive.
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| Fin whale spout |
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| Fin whale |
We also saw two minke whales; one only a few minutes into our trip! The morning ended with a humpback whale inshore of Jeffreys Ledge. This whale was moving around quite a bit but with enough looks we were able to identify it as Repeat.
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| Repeat the humpback whale |
The afternoon trip started with some searching for Repeat. We searched but with no luck we continued further offshore. We ended up finding 3 fin whales all moving around independently of each other. Some were being slightly more conducive for watching purposes but it was still nice to see distant blows around.
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| Afternoon fin whale |
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| Distant look at another fin whale |
The wind was minimal Sunday morning and conditions were beautiful for whale searching. We started the trip checking out a mellow minke whale. This whale was surfacing slowly and smoothly when we first arrived.
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| Minke whale |
Further offshore we came across a fin whale popping up here and there. A very distinct dorsal fin but still working on making a match to who this whale is.
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| Morning fin whale (above and below) |
On the afternoon trip on Sunday we traveled to a different area of the Jeffreys Ledge region and came across a fin whale. This particular whale was only staying below the surface for a few minutes at a time. It was darting around but staying close allowing for some great looks.
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| Afternoon fin whale |
Turns out this whale is known as #0402, a whale first sighted by
Blue Ocean Society in 2004!
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| Fin whale #0402 |
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