May 30 Prince of Whales

What a great day! It's a wonder what a little visibility can do! We've been riding around in the fog and heavy haze for days now so being able to pick up our binoculars and actually scan the horizon was an amazing feeling! Ah, the little things in life...

We started by watching a very nice minke whale about half way between the mainland and Jeffreys Ledge. Minkes can be a little elusive but this one was wonderful! Everyone on board got some very nice looks at this "small" whale.

Minke Whale

We stopped for another minke whale up on the Ledge but this one was less than cooperative so we continued on, following the Ledge's edge to the NE. Soon we saw our first blow from a large whale. This turned out to be our first fin whale of the year!! Fin whales are my personal favorite. Yes, humpback whales are nice and all, but fin whales just hold a certain sense of awe and mystery. We watched this whale for about 20 minutes before deciding to keep going in search of other whales.

Our first fin whale heading toward the boat.

The white lower jaw of a fin whale

The first fin whale of the year!

Just as we started to move away from the first fin whale, a second appeared right off our bow. To my excitement, this was not only a fin whale I knew, but one of my favorites AND an adoptable whale! FJORD had graced us with his presence once again! We at Blue Ocean Society have been watching Fjord on Jeffreys Ledge since 1996 (5 years before BOS was founded) although the first recorded sighting of this whale was in 1981! He has been seen on the Ledge every year since 2000. The really cool fact about Fjord is that he has a habit of visiting Jeffreys Ledge in the spring- usually late May/early June.

Fjord!

The sightings got even better! Fjord and our first fin whale met up and began to swim/dive together. Associations between fin whales are not extremely common as these whales are mostly solitary but we do see them from time to time. It was really great to see one of our old friends hanging out with a new friend!

Again, Fjord is one of our adoptable whales. You can learn more about our adoption program at http://www.blueoceansociety.org/Store/store.html

Thanks to all of our enthusiastic and generous passengers today! We couldn't do what we do without you!

Keep in touch!Become a Fan on Facebook || Follow Us On Twitter