I got whale snot on me!
The sunset whale watch today was incredible!
We started out in splashy, cold, windy swell AND dense fog, making for some definitely challenging conditions to spot wildlife, but we had passengers with great attitudes and we really wanted to treat them to some wildlife. And the Pacific Ocean certainly delivered today. Beyond the drop-off in over 1300 ft of water depth an expansive pod of ~150 offshore bottlenose dolphins could be spotted in all direction. These graceful grey beauties were bow riding, and porpoising all around the Privateer. We hung out in neutral and watched some cows were showing their calf’s hunting techniques in the eerie almost metallic looking water.
Then out of no where a humpback came up RIGHT next to the boat and spooked everyone! Completely gave me a jump scare it was so unexpected.
We were thrilled to be visited by this extremely curious humpback whale and enjoyed a close look at all the tubercles surrounding its face, full length of its back and barnacles around its dorsal fin and dorsal ridge, but no flukes.
It went directly under the boat and came backup on the underside making sure both port and starboard got both looks and got sprayed with whale mist from the blowholes. -I’m always excited to get close up with some whale snot.
The humpback popped up next off our bow at our 12 o’clock position, leading us towards the north and gaining some distance. Which made it even better when it circled back sneakily surprising us yet again with another whale mugging!
It was the absolute best!
-Naturalist Ruth
