July 28 Prince of Whales

Absolutely gorgeous day on the water today!! (and I can say that after spending nearly 12 hours in the office yesterday, any day on a boat much better! )

Today we lucked out with 2 fin whales and 3+ minke whales all in a small area. To make things even better, one of the fin whales was one that I have been watching since 1999! This huge female fin whale, #9904, has had 2 calves that we know about- one in 2005, and another in 2008. She is due for another soon!

Fin whale #9904

The minke whales were scooting about and a bit difficult to get close to but with several in the area, we all saw them several times.

Minke whale

Back to the fin whales, we got some great, close approaches several times. It is amazing to me to think that the second largest animal on the planet sometimes seems to enjoy watching us as much as we enjoy watching it. This whale stayed at the surface as we approached it on its left side, then motored slowly behind it and followed it on its right side before it finally dove.

Fin whale blowholes

Fin whale #9904 was surfacing every 4-5 minutes and staying in the same area, evidence that she was feeding at depth.

Fin whale #9904

The second fin whale in the area was a bit more aloof and difficult to get good photos of as it seemed to be doing more traveling than feeding.

Fin whale spout

And I still can't forget about the 3 parasitic jaegers we saw early in the trip that were chasing 2 common terns! Wish I had my camera out for that brief sighting! And as we were waiting for the fin whales and minke whale to surface we saw several comb jellies in the water! Comb jellies look like jelly fish and are similar to jelly fish but they are actually of a different phylum, Ctenophora (as opposed to Cnidaria). Isn't science great??

Thanks to all of our happy passengers today and congrats to the winner of our Humpback Whale Adoption- Nicole!!


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