Thursday morning began with a bit of swell and a decent sea breeze as we made our way offshore. Eventually, we entered an area where we had found luck with whales in recent days. As we slowly navigated through the area, we were able to get distant looks at two single humpback whales. As we did so, we could see a pair of humpback whales out in the distance, breaching and flipper slapping repeatedly. We moved over in that direction and found this pair of whales to be Thistle and Pina.
Pair of humpback whales
Flipper slapping whale!
After spending time with this pair of whales, we were able to get a few looks at another humpback whale, Cacophony, as they made their way through the area. Later, as we were beginning to start our journey back towards home, we were able to finish off our morning with great looks at a trio of humpback whales, Spoon, Fan, and Quill.
Humpback diving
Spoon rolling on side
Thursday afternoon greeted us with some fairly intense sea conditions. The wind and waves were substantial, but that didn’t stop us from finding life offshore! As we travelled out to where we spent time with whales in the morning, we were able to stop and get quick looks at a humpback whale named Ebony. After that, we pressed on a bit further and came into an area with a number of whales at the surface. We spent time with a trio of humpback whales, Pina, Stance, and Thistle.
Trio of whales surfacing
humpbacks at surface
Not long later, these three whales were joined by two more humpbacks, Cacophony and Whirlwind. It was amazing to see these five whales travelling next to each other amidst high seas! At one point as our whales were down on a deeper dive, Stance unexpectedly jumped clear out of the water. On our travels back in, we also passed by two other humpback whales.
Friday morning, we made our way offshore while navigating through thick fog. Once we made it to the area where we had found luck with whales the day prior, a pocket of visibility opened up for us to find a pair of Atlantic white-sided dolphins.
White-sided dolphin
We were able to get excellent looks at these two dolphins while the visibility kept getting better and better all around us. After pressing on, we were quickly able to locate a single humpback whale, Patches, before moving on to a group of four humpback whales out in the distance. We were only able to get looks at three of these whales as one of them was quick to disappear. These three whales were Fan, Partition, and Whirlwind.
Huge flipper!
Humpback whale diving
A while later we did a bit more exploring while time allowed, coming across two different pairs of humpback whales, with both pairs being quite sleepy along the ocean’s surface. Our first pair consisted of Cygnus and Spika, the second contained Pina and Thistle. While watching these whales there had also been a slightly larger group of white-sided dolphins circling around the area.
Humpback at surface
Friday afternoon began in a very exciting way! As we made our way offshore, we found our first sightings of the trip in the form of a mother/calf pair of humpback whales! Ravine, the mother, was resting along the surface as her calf would occasionally roll on its side.
We eventually carried on and were able to come across a single humpback as well as a nearby pair. The single whale, Patches, spent much time out in the distance, while we spent time with our pair, Thistle and Pina. While watching the pair, another single humpback, Gunslinger, surfaced and then dove out to our right. Pressing further along we could see another humpback whale being active out in the distance as it breached and flipper slapped several times. This whale, Orion, displayed a spectacular spinning head breach after we approached.
Flipper slapping humpback
All the while, more humpback whales began making their way into the area including Zodiac, as well as a trio of whales, Fan, Whirlwind, and Partition. As we spent time with this trio, we were also granted looks at a passing minke whale and some Atlantic white-sided dolphins nearby. Eventually, it was time to head home. On our travels in, we passed by another two pairs of humpback whales, as well as a larger pod of about thirty or so white-sided dolphins. So much life out on the ledge today!
Minke whale diving
Fan diving
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