Fri July 11 – Whale Watching

Wow, what a day we had on the water yesterday! Numerous reports of whales in the area had us
excitedly heading out in search of some of the humpbacks we had seen on Wednesday’s trip. But to our
surprise, our transit was ‘interrupted’ by the sightings of three finback whales less than halfway to our
destination. The massive whales were feeding on sand eels, with one seen lunge-feeding on its side at
the surface. Fin whales are extremely fast and can travel tremendous distances in a short time, so we
enjoyed watching them for a bit, before they – and we – traveled on. About twelve miles offshore, we
found blows belonging to two, and then four, and then five humpback whales. All types of feeding and
surface displays were observed with one humpback kick-feeding at the surface, another open-mouth
feeding with excellent views of its baleen, and another breaching beyond our vessel. We spent time with
these whales, while more blows were observed in the distance, and we traveled on to investigate.
Again, to our surprise, two fin whales appeared in the mix, along with a minke whale, while tails of
humpbacks dove in the distance. What an amazing experience! We reached the additional humpbacks
and were pleased to see the tails belonged to a mom/calf pair that had been encountered on
Wednesday’s trip. Humpbacks often form associated pairs while feeding and can vary in size and length,
so we are always cautious to identify a pair as mom/calf without additional observation. This sighting
confirmed what we believed on Wednesday to be our first humpback mom and calf pair of our 2025
season. What a wonderful way to spend a summer’s day on the water.
Every trip is different and we never know what we will see. Don’t miss the boat – book your trip today!

3-5 finback whales (not yet determined if additional two were same as those first encountered)
7-11 humpback whales
1 minke whale
80-120 great shearwaters
20-30 Cory’s shearwaters