Beautiful fall day on the ocean today! Although it was overcast, the seas had calmed immensely since yesterday, making for a more pleasant whale watching experience.
We headed back to the area we found whales in yesterday and was happy to see that some of the same whales were around, and some new friends had joined in. The first whales we came upon were Slingshot and Chromosome. Yesterday Chromosome was hanging out with the ladies- Spoon, Partition and Owl. Today he and Slingshot (likely a male) were chilling and acting fairly calm until Slingshot tail-breached, throwing his lower body out of the water!
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| Chromosome |
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| Slingshot tail-breaching |
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| Slingshot's unique dorsal fin |
As we were watching this pair, a minke whale surfaced close by. Then we moved on to find a single humpback whale, Patches! This mellow male was just cruising along, slowly traveling to the NW, not caring at all that a huge whale watch boat with 100 people on board was sneaking up on it!
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| Patches |
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| Patches crossing our bow! |
Patches surfaced a couple of times with mud on his nose and flukes, evidence that he had been bottom-feeding! We rarely see that here on Jeffreys Ledge!
As we were about to leave, another minke whale popped up behind us, and then we heard that a few more whales were spotted just a short distance away. We found a trio of humpbacks including Tornado, her calf, and escort Partition! Yesterday Partition was hanging out with Chromosome and Spoon (and later Owl)! Funny how these whales seem so social yet we know so little about what it all means. Tornado's calf was just as wiggly as it has been all season and often surfaced next to Partition instead of Tornado- interesting behavior for a calf!
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| Tornado's 2012 calf! |
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| Partition and Tornado's 2012 calf, just under a year old and already showing scars from being entangled :( |
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| Tornado |
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| Tornado |
Today was certainly a nice day on the ocean, especially for October! Thanks to our hearty passengers for braving the chilly weather with us!
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