August 2- Prince of Whales

In spite of the threatening storms, we ended up with a great trip today. We began with a quick-moving pod of Atlantic white sided dolphins. These little guys were zooming all around us, swimming this way and that. They were moving so quickly that I didn't even try to get a photo of them, knowing my pictures would just be of the white water behind them!

As we watched the dolphins, we spotted a minke nearby and then a spout from a large whale in the distance. As the clouds started to build, we continued on to check out this whale.


We found a fin whale! This huge animal was taking short dives and not traveling very far so we were able to get some nice looks at it.

Fin whale blowholes

Fin whale chevron pattern

Fin whale dorsal fin

We took some pictures of the identifying markings of this whale but have not ID'ed it yet. Perhaps it is a new visitor to the area!

On our way in, we searched for a blow that we saw from a few miles away, but we never actually found the whale :( As we headed for the barn, we were surprised to see our passengers pointing adamantly to the left- they found us a minke whale! This minke soon turned into 2-3 minkes and gave us a great finale, especially as one of them traveled right alongside us for a few minutes.

Minke whale

Minke whales are often underrated but lately we have been having wonderful luck with these "small" whales!

Thanks to our 3 families who adopted whales today!! And congrats to Diane from NY who won a whale adoption in our raffle!

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