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

We had a great trip today! It began with fantastic weather and a couple of humpbacks going on some dives. While watching our first whales of the day, we spotted some splashing going on in the distance. We went to check it out and found a mother and calf doing some flipper slapping! I didn't get the best look at mom's fluke, so I'm still working on an ID, but we got some great looks at her and her little one flipper slapping in unison and swimming around our boat. There were a few times when they got super close to us, with mom even coming up between our bow pulpits! This pair seemed to calm down after a bit, and we moved forward to some more whales. We found a pair of VERY large adult humpbacks traveling together with another individual nearby. This group was mainly diving, but we were able to get some good looks at them. Just as we were about to head home, we heard from another whale watching boat that there were some humpbacks feeding not too far away. We decided to take a few minutes to check this out. When we arrived, we got a few looks at humpbacks kick feeding and open mouth feeding! There were 5 or 6 humpbacks in this group, and a whale named Draco was with them. The food seemed to move on, and the whales began diving, but the best treat was stumbling upon a pod of white-sided dolphin! The dolphin enjoyed jumping in the wake created by our boat, and there were whales all around us! It was certainly an exciting day.

~Jackie O'Mara, Naturalist

We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful evening as we headed out to the bank, and soon found a pair of feeding humpback whales. The food must have been good because as we watched our pair was joined by five other whales! Fulcrum and her calf were among the group, but the calf was a little more interested in us than in dinner. We topped off the trip with a gorgeous sunset.

As soon as we boarded the boat, the clouds cleared and it was a beautiful day! It only got better once we reached the bank. The was so much sand lance in the water, and whales feeding no matter where we looked! We got some amazing close looks at a minke, saw Lavalier and her calf kick feeding, and had a whole bunch of bubble nets and open mouths from other humpbacks in the area.
~ Emily Griffin, Naturalist