We had an AMAZING day full of wildlife sightings! We had a Fin-tastic morning with a Fin whale, Common dolphins and feeding frenzies! We had a tail-lobbing Humpback whale on our afternoon trip!
To start the day, we cruised out to the SW and spotted tons of birds diving in the water feeding! We knew we had to get out there to investigate! We spotted hundreds of Long-beaked Common dolphins feeding and taking breaks to come over and say hi! While enjoying the excitement, we spotted a whale spout to the south of us! A fin whale was cruising to the north straight toward us! We got great looks as it toured the multiple feeding frenzies! It slowly traveled to the NW and we enjoyed its company!
On our afternoon cruise, we set out to the west and braved the elements as it began to rain nearshore. We finally got past the system and found sunshine a great visibility! About 11 miles from shore on the 9-mile bank we spotted a splashed out in the distance! We encountered a huge pod of Long-beaked Common dolphins traveling north. The pod at first seemed to be somewhat small with only ~100 sighted but the more time we spent with them, the pod increased in size! By the time we left ~800 Commons were seen all around us! The ride home was smooth and a little quiet, but Danielle spotted a splashed behind us! A humpback whale was breaching and tail-lobbing at the surface, only a mile from shore! We couldn’t have asked for a better ending to our tour! It was the cherry on top!
We have one more trip to go…we hope to see you soon!
Oh my fluking goodness! We had a chronic breacher on today’s sunset trip!! We found the humpback whale less than ~3 miles offshore! It was leaping out of the water over & over again! We counted at least ~25 breaches & chin slaps, they even gave us a little twirl! We saw a few flukes and so many rainblows! Truly a once in a lifetime experience with a very active humpback whale! The humpbacks have been krillin’ it this season so please come out while our transient friends are still in town! More ocean fun coming up tomorrow!
Naturalist,
Vanessa & Melissa
