August 3- Prince of Whales

We were all about the fin and minke whales today!

We began trip by getting brief looks at 2 minke whales- the first was elusive but the second was much better!

Minke whale

As we waited for this minke whale to reappear, Captain Hawk Eye spotted a couple of tall blows a few miles to the east so off we went.

As we got closer, we realized that the 2 whales were actually 3 huge fin whales! Fin whales are my favorite species, and having a trio is rare! It got even better once we obtained close looks at them. One was our old friend, Ladder! The cool part about Ladder is that he is nearly always seen with another fin whale. In this area, fin whales tend to be solitary so the pairs, trios and groups are always a treat for us.

Ladder and "friend"

Ladder's unique chevron pattern

Ladder's distinctive marking

All 3 fin whales!

Mystery fin whale- still need to attempt to ID this one

As we watched the trio, several minke whales popped up here and there. As we left to search for a spout that we saw in to the west, a couple more minkes surfaced! Even though minkes are not endangered, we certainly don't see them every day so having 9 of them in total today was great!

We found the spout of anther fin whale and soon determined this to be another friend nicknamed Dingle! We first saw Dingle in 2003 and he has become a regular visitor to the Ledge!

Fin whale #0369, aka Dingle

Dingle was busy swimming offshore, towards Ladder and his buddies. As time grew short, we headed for home, but our day wasn't over yet. Our deckhand, Jessie, told us she wanted to see an ocean sunfish OR dolphins today- her 21st birthday. Before we knew it, we spotted a triangular fin flopping up and down in the water. Ocean sunfish!!! This was only the Prince of Whale's second sunfish sighting of the year. These large fish are the largest species of bony fish in the world! Happy Birthday Jessie!

Spotted body of the ocean sunfish can be seen just sub-surface.

Thanks to all of our fun passengers and congrats to our lucky raffle winner from Alabama!

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