July 4 Prince of Whales

Happy Independence Day!

We began our search for whale in the same area that we left 10 whales yesterday afternoon. Of course, they we not there anymore! So we ventured on and found, to my happy surprise, a familiar fin whale, #9709! This huge female fin whale has been seen with a calf in the past. Last year she was seen with a very new and deep wound to her tail area. This year her injury looks to be healing well.

Fin whale #9709's unique dorsal fin with a small "squiggle" in the top.

9709's healing injury to her tail area

She surfaced several times, close to the boat. As we continued on, we spotted a couple blows thanks to our helpful observer Andy and this whale turned out to be one of my favorite humpback whales, Satula! As we were watching Satula, a few black back gulls were having a spat and chose our boat to duke it out around. These huge birds circled the boat a good dozen times at very close range. I was just happy that they hadn't appeared to have fed recently :)

Black back gulls

As we were waiting for Satula to return, another humpback whale, Nile, came by and kept on going.

Nile

Satula appeared to be feeding, and was staying in the area surfacing frequently.

Satula's lack of dorsal fin- but you can see the divot where it used to be.

Satula's distinct flukes

On our way home, we found an active pod of Atlantic white sided dolphins that were following a fin whale around. These dolphins were moving fast but we managed to get some great looks, and even saw a few calves in the pod!

Beautiful day on the water. Congrats to Ivanna, our winner of the Satula Adoption raffle!

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