Fri Aug 14 – Whale Watching

Minke (and fin whale and shark) Mania!
We always begin our trips reminding passengers that we have no control over what we will see and no
idea what we will encounter. That sentiment could not have been more true aboard yesterday’s trip. We
first found a group of 60-80 Tamamend’s bottlenose dolphins a couple of miles from the lighthouse.
After spending some time with them and a few additional pods ahead, we continued east to where we
encountered humpbacks on Wednesday’s trip. Bait was sparse throughout the area, but we eventually
found one finback whale, which we were able to get some good views of. A minke whale was seen in the
distance and we decided to continue east looking for the humpbacks and any additional animals.
Unfortunately, there were no signs of cetaceans, but there were signs of life with numerous sightings of
spinner sharks leaping from the water, a brief encounter with a (likely) mako shark, and even flying fish
as we moved through warm seas. Then things got interesting. We had a brief encounter with a scalloped
hammerhead. And then a longer encounter with another one. Then blows were detected ahead of us.
As we moved toward the sighting, a Mola mola was seen off our port side. Then, we entered whale
soup. There were at least 4 finback whaled (possibly 6) swimming amongst at least 9-12 minkes, all
within a quarter-mile area! It was incredible; the size of the fin whales was breath-taking and the sounds
of the minkes coming up and exchanging air, was spellbinding. We spent as much time as we could with
the animals before steaming home. It was an incredible adventure we could have never predicted. Every
single trip is unique; join us (and join us again) to experience the magic.

5-7 finback whales
10-13 minke whales
80-120 Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphins
2 scalloped hammerheads
1 Mola mola
2-3 spinner sharks
1 (possible) mako shark
Flying fish!
80-120 Wilson’s storm petrels
60-80 Cory’s shearwater
50-70 great shearwater
7-12 red-necked phalaropes