September 9, 2022

We had not been on the water since Sunday due to high winds and rain, and we were relieved to get out on Friday. Our first sighting of the trip was a little Atlantic puffin. This bird kept dipping below the water, but we were able to get some quick peeks. We eventually found ourselves surrounded by humpback whales. The first whale to pop up was a male named Mogul. Shortly after we spotted Mogul, a much smaller whale appeared. We were sure this was a calf, but where was the mother? Eventually, Owl showed up! She must have been busy looking for fish while her calf was at the surface (calves can’t hold their breath as long as adults). We also had Clamp and Grommet show up. Clamp and Mogul even came close to the boat, along with Owl’s calf. We were also surprised by the arrival of a large pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins! These toothed whales didn’t seem to interact with the whales too much and eventually left the area. We stayed with these five whales for a bit, just staying in the same spot and watching them do their thing.

Clamp

Atlantic white-sided dolphins

Tubercles on the nose of a humpback

Owl's calf!

Eventually, we decided to leave this group and came across a pair of humpbacks. We spotted a flipper slapping the surface of the water before arriving. These two whales were Ase and Jabiru, and Jabiru kept flipper slapping after we arrived. After leaving this pair, we found another humpback: Pinball! She gave our passengers some wonderful close looks before we headed back to the harbor. 

Jabiru's flipper

Diving humpback

Just outside the harbor, we spotted an ocean sunfish! Once we got closer, we realized this animal had its eye closed! Ocean sunfish don’t have eyelids, but they can retract their eye, and the skin covers it up! Weird! This was a good way to wrap up our trip.

Ocean sunfish