Fin whale close encounterWe had a great day today aboard the Atlantic Queen! We started out the day with looks at 2 fin whales (with at least a couple more in the distance). As they came closer, I was excited to realize they were two whales I recognized, and haven't seen yet this year! They were whales known as "Crow" and #0354. Crow was first seen by us in 1998, but Allied Whale, the curators of the North Atlantic Fin Whale Catalog, have records of this whale dating back to 1987! #0354 is a more recent visitor, at least to us - it was first identified in 2003. Both whales are huge, and have very distinctive dorsal fins.
At one point, Crow and #0354 turned quickly and these huge whales swam toward our pulpit and then right along our port side - a close view of a fin whale is a sight that never fails to take my breath away!
#0354
CrowWe also had a comparatively little minke whale cruising around. We haven't seen many minkes lately, even though they are a plentiful species - and it was neat to compare its size to that of the giant fin whales.
We finished up the trip with two of our favorite whales this season, Chromosome and Tripod, who seem to have an on-again, off-again relationship. This male and female have been together off and on for several weeks now. We just saw Tripod with Valley on Wednesday, and thought maybe her time with Chromosome was over, but today they were back together again, engaging in spectacular bubble feeding!
Tripod and Chromosome. One whale in a vertical lunge, one in a horizontal lunge!
Humpback whale fluke
Tripod
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