Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - Whale watch 9 am and 2 pm

9 am Trip - Leah

Minke whale

Nice calm seas this morning and started off our trip with a minke whale.  Generally they don't spend to much time at the surface but this one was up just enough to get some good photos.  

Cardhu and 2015 calf

We then continued on to a mother and calf pair of whales that turned out to be Cardhu and her 2015 calf.  They were staying very close to each other and giving us great chances to see them. 

Cardhu's left dorsal fin

Above you will see Cardhu at the surface of the water. There are many differences between the dorsal fins of the humpback whales and many temporary scars that we can use to help identify these whales over and over.  

Unknown humpback whale

Here you can see a humpback whale that is surfacing very slowly and since the seas were very calm you could see the whale very clearly right under the surface of the water.  This also shows the flippers of the humpback whale that are white in color but look green because of the phytoplankton in the water. Phytoplankton have green pigment in their bodies called chlorophyll giving a green appearance.

Agassiz's ventral fluke

This lovely fluke shown here is a whale named Agassiz.  This whale has been around the area for quite some time and has been a wonderful individual to learn from and gain knowledge about the life history of the whales in the North Atlantic. 

2 pm Trip - Leah

Cory Shearwater

Great Shearwater

The activity this afternoon was incredible, we saw many of our seabirds that we commonly see, such as the Cory, Great and Sooty shearwater.  

Great Shearwater

The birds are usually one of our greatest indicators of whales when and if they are both feeding together.  The birds tell us where the whales are going to surface next, when they are feeding, and the birds fly in there to steal a tasty snack.  

Jimmy rescuing a balloon

My hero of a crew member, Jimmy, is very kindly helping us clean up the ocean one piece of garbage at a time.  Today's monstrosity was a balloon, we find far to many of those out off shore and for every one we collect and get out of the water that is just one more animal we save that may be looking for jellyfish to feed on.  

Spyhopping humpback

 Here we can see a curious humpback whale checking us out by poking its head slowly out of the water.  This whale is spyhopping and taking the opportunity to watch us while we watch it.  

Humpback straining

As we continued and got into areas where there were more humpbacks we found whales feeding at the surface and straining to feed on the small fish trapped in its mouth.  

Scratch, humpback whale

Group of whales together

We had great looks at humpbacks spending time at the surface feeding and traveling around the area. Scratch was one of our humpbacks that was spending time with our boat.  

Whale poop

It may not be the most attractive thing to see at the surface but here we see the humpback whale helping with the nitrification of the ocean.  When these whales poop at the surface of the water they are helping the nutrients cycle through the levels of the water.

Columbia, humpback whale

Finback whale

Also we had sightings of finbacks while offshore.  This is the largest baleen whale that we see offshore and they can be up to 80 feet in length.  

Basking Shark

 Also one of the coolest sharks to see while we are on the water is the basking shark.  These sharks are the second largest in the world, they can be about 25 feet on length at full grown.  We generally have 12-14 footers when we see them and they are filter feeders just like our whales.

Sooty Shearwater

One of my favorite sounds is listening to the shearwaters taking off from the water.  They make a pitter pattering sound as they beat there wings and hit their webbed feet on the waters surface.  Such a cool sound, hopefully you will have an opportunity to hear that sound some day.