Thursday’s morning trip was all about fin whales and fog. We
started out in foggy conditions, knowing the forecast for the day was for it to
burn off early. We got to an area where
we had whales on Wednesday’s trip and magically there was visibility there!
However, we didn’t find any whales there and then the fog rolled back in. We pressed on to find another area where the
fog wasn’t as thick and found 2 fin whales, one of which we tried to spend time
with. The other disappeared quickly. The first was taking short dives of only 5
minutes, but then just as soon as we found it, we lost it as the fog came back
yet again. Our trip home was mostly fog-free and we found another fin whale to
end the trip.
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| Fin whale |
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| Fin whale spout |
Thursday afternoon, our new intern Rachel found the whales! We started with a pair of fin whales that
quickly split up. One of the pair surfaced right next to our boat with its mouth
full of fish and water! This was an incredible look at a beautiful
creature! Two other fin whales were in
the immediate area as well. Although the whales were moving around quite a bit,
we only got photos of the same whale over and over 😊
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| Fin whale |
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| Cool fin whale marking! |
We had seen some spouts further offshore, so
we went to investigate. There we found a sleeping fin whale! Whales don’t really sleep, but just rest-
shutting down half of their brain at a time. During this resting phase, they
move very slowly at the surface, taking a breath every minute or two. With our
good lighting, we were able to keep track of the whale just below the surface
between breaths. This was really a special experience!
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| Sleeping fin whale |
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