July 2 Prince of Whales

What an amazing day! This morning when our captain informed us that he wanted to explore, I was a bit hesitant. We have been having excellent trips recently in one particular area so why venture out to the unknown? Well, research is all about knowing where whales are, and where whale are not. I was very happy that our exploring paid off and we found awesome whales and experienced some very cool behaviors!

We started out with a mellow fin whale feeding happily on krill amongst a flock of gulls. This whale was happy to surface now and then, here and there, just coming up for a few breaths before sinking on a dive to eat some more.

Fin whale

We ventured a little further and found a very nice, yet small, humpback whale. This was the 2009 calf of a whale named Siphon, and it was very hungry! The krill were jumping out of the water trying to escape its massive jaws to no avail.

Humpback whale side-lunging through a mass of krill

We could look down into the calm seas and actually see the light green flashes of the flippers well below the surface as this whale corralled the fish and krill and repeatedly came up very close to our boat with its mouth wide open and pink chin pleats fully expanded!

Can you see the eye?

We also found a very interesting fin whale that seemed to have the right fluke tip bent up since it was poking out above the surface when the whale dove. A tiny minke whale was also seen scooting around though it was a bit elusive.

The afternoon trip was a bit similar to the morning in that we saw the same humpback whale and a few fin whales and a minke.

Siphon's 2009 calf (hopefully to be named this fall) was in the area again and still feeding.

Siphon's 2009 calf

A few fin whales were seen in the distance so we moved to there. One particular fin whale appeared to be "sleeping", moving slowly below the surface and taking a breath every couple minutes. We got absolutely amazing looks at this whale. It was hanging just below the surface and we could see its entire length as it just hung out along-side our boat. These were some of the BEST looks at a fin whale I have EVER had!! Beautiful! We watched the tail slowly move up and down as the whale slowly propelled itself. That huge fluke came within inches of the surface. My photos do not do this whale justice at all- trust me when I say we could really see the entire whale!

Fin whale blow

Fin whale blow holes, and look for the flukes near the bottom of this image

Several other fin whale were in the area and we are expecting to ID these individuals soon. We also found the humpback whale again on our way home, and also came across another fin whale and a minke whale that gave us a very nice close approach!

Perfect day for whale watching with several whales of various species and calm seas and sunny skies! Happy Fourth of July Weekend!!

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