16 September 2022

Species seen today: humpback whale, white-beaked dolphins, minke whales, harbour porpoises

This morning we went out on two boats and sea conditions were great! Not too long into the tour we spotted a big blow of a humpback whale! This whale was very relaxed and surfaced often and showed us its tail every time it went for a deep dive. From its tail we could identify the whale as a very well-known individual, Mariupol! One boat decided to leave the area to avoid stressing out the whale but Mariupol decided to breach right behind the boat! Both boats headed out of the area in search of something else and saw a few glimpses of minkes and one boat saw harbour porpoises very close to the boat! Then in the afternoon, we had a big tour on 5 boats! We headed to the area where the humpback was and it didn't take long to spot it again. Again, he was very relaxed and fluked for us a lot again. One time when we were waiting for Mariupol to surface again, we spotted a minke whale a little further away but in the same area. When more boats came to the area, we moved on as we could see jumping dolphins in the distance. As we got closer we could see that it was a big pod with many very small calves with them. Many of them were jumping and putting on a real show for us! One boat got a glimpse of some porpoises when they were on their way back into the harbour but didn't have time to stop to see them. Overall it was a great day at sea!