Today we had a gorgeous day out on the water and saw a ton of whales! Our first whale of the day was a logging humpback. This whale was having a VERY lazy day, so after a few looks, we left it to keep napping in peace. We then found a pair of whales going on some dives, but giving us some good looks while they were at the surface. While we were waiting for them to come back up from a dive, we got some great looks at a mola mola who was floating nearby! After this we found Division and another humpback doing some similar diving behaviors as the previous whales. Then we saw a little splashing going on in the distance and came across at least 4 or 5 humpbacks diving quickly and kicking their flukes. They seemed to be trying to churn up some food, and sure enough, soon afterward the whole group began doing a variety of feeding behaviors all around the boat (including a big bubble net right next to us)! During this time a little minke popped up, perhaps for a snack of it's own. It was great to end the trip with such exciting activity! On the way home we even spotted another mola mola!

~Jackie O'Mara, Naturalist

On our way out to the Bank in the afternoon we had to stop to check out an ocean sunfish, also known as a Mola Mola. It was a unique experience to see this animal--the largest bony fish in the ocean! After getting some good looks at the fish (ours was only about 3 or 4 feet long) and after giving it some good looks at us, we continued onwards to the whales. We first found a couple of humpbacks going on some dives. We spent a few minutes with these individuals before spotting a whale breaching in the distance! This humpback kept up the breaching until we got closer, and we were able to get a good up-close look at the breaching behavior. I had thought that this was a whale named Lapel, but we were later able to identify it as Habanero. Habanero began flipper slapping like crazy after the breaching, and treated us to some rolls! We got some great looks at this whale and some quick looks at a minke who stopped by for a bit. Habanero then tired out and began going on some dives. On the way home we stopped to check out two other humpbacks doing some flipper slapping and diving around a bunch of fishing boats!

~Jackie O'Mara, Naturalist