Wowie! We did not expect to run into two adult Southern Right whales along our morning charter!
These two were super relaxed with their surfaces, originally spotting them early just out of the moorings.
Southern Right whales are distinct from their white callosity formations on their rostrums as well as a lack of dorsal fin. We enjoyed these two, following them to Gannett Rock. On one special occasion, a lady out on the bow shouted “give us a tail” and the whale did, then all of a sudden it performed a magnificent powerful breach!
It was amazing!
It is rarer to see this species perform such active behaviours, so it was super awesome to witness such grace! We left these guys to it and found a pair of humpbacks out wider. These guys were taking 10 minute dive times, but were lucky to capture a glimpse of their flukes before they went on their dives.
A breaching calf travelling alongside their mother was our initial observation this afternoon!
This little one leapt out the water a few times as we approached and became relaxed by the time we were there.
We followed along for a while, until more activity was sighted out wide. 7-8 adult humpbacks boosted around each other, one performed continuous pectoral loud slaps.
It was epic to hear the power from the pectoral fins getting slammed against the water! A few bottlenose dolphins became known within the group, careful to not get slapped by the imminent descending fin.
Others who were originally sighted out further than these made their way over to the main group, a wicked event of natural occurrences happening always, but we were lucky enough to be apart of.
-Naturaliste Charters
This post was adapted from a Facebook post, read the original here.
Leave a Reply