We started off with a pair of minke whales fairly close to shore. Minkes are notorious for being difficult to get good looks at but this one proved us wrong. It surfaced to our left and kept on coming right towards our bow!
Minke Whale
Nile- named for the river-shaped mark on her left flukeWe saw a second pair of humpbacks not too far away. These whales were also initially unfamiliar to us.
Soon these 2 pairs joined up and started some amazing feeding!
The feeding we saw, with all 4 whales together and in sync, reminded me of how Pacific humpback whales feed in Alaska. I kept telling my interns, Katie and Anna, of how this these behaviors reminded me of my time working in Alaska with so many whales feeding all together.
Four humpbacks
Four feeding humpbacks
Four feeding humpbacks right under the bow!!!!!To my great surprise, as we moved on to find some other whales, I realized one of the whales in the second pair that then started to feed "Alaska-style" was actually named Alaska!!! How cool!! And the other whale was the 2009 calf of Siphon, who we had seen last season.
Alaska, a humpback whale first seen in 2009
Alaska, a humpback whale first seen in 2009Next we moved on (though the feeding quartet was hard to leave) and found a mother/calf pair of humpback whales!! These two were a bit elusive but eventually we got enough of a look at the mom's tail to verify that this was Sabot and her new calf. We spent a few minutes with this pair and then it was time to go home.
Sabot and calfThank you to all of our wonderful and enthusiastic passengers today and especially to those who contributed to our mission! Hope to see you on the water again soon.
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