Whale soup was on the menu today!
This recipe calls for one big beautiful ocean, and a high concentration of whales in a small area.
It was delightful.
The gorgeous sea conditions have been continuing into the first week of December with mild swell and sunny skies and amazing visibility.
That helped the crew of the Privateer spot multiple spouts as we approached the Nine mile bank where a trio of humpback whales were feeding! They circled around the boat following a feeding frenzy of ~200 long-beached common dolphins, shearwaters, pelicans and a large raft of sea lions! It’s not a usual sight for us to see large rafts of sea lions so it added to the excitement. Beyond the close-knit trio of humpbacks which kept spouting and diving right next to each other, we could see multiple spouts in the distance in various directions as well estimating 7 in the area! This is incredible factoring in that these animals a primarily solo creatures.
After we started our journey towards the coastline again, we spotted a big splash from a humpback breaching in the distance! As we got closer it treated us to a few good tail slaps and a tail-lob.
This brought our confirmed number of baleen whales on our afternoon trip to 8!
Really was a magical day on the water.
-Naturalist Ruth
