Our week 2 guests hailed from California, Brazil, and North Carolina, and were treated to quite a show by the numerous whales we encountered, along with very fair winds.
Not for three years have we seen the likes of what we observed this week. Two huge days for blue whales made this sea look at it had in years past. We saw 30 yes that is 30 blue whales on our biggest day, they were everywhere feeding, pooping, some being shy, other cozying right up to our boat with their massive bodies. We saw at least 3 old timers, or whales were have known for 25-40 years by now. The sea is very productive here, there is krill visible at the surface, and we have seen some very active whale surface feeding in the past week. We also say a cow/calf fin whale pair, and a few humpbacks. Also we had a fairly relaxed dwarf sperm whale who let us get fairly close allowing for my first ever image of an open blowhole on this hard to find and harder to get to know species.
We are seeing some vermillion streaks of dead phytoplankton here and there on the surface, and we also saw our first large common dolphin pod of the season. Of course fair winds almost throughout the week helped our cause greatly. Our current blue whale season count of different individuals already easily surpasses the totals of the past two seasons combined, and it is only still February.
All this leads us to really look forward to the rest of the season, but for now we will need to sit tight as a multi-day north wind, here known as a norte, has descended upon us.
Needless to say we are thrilled our second home it lit up with vibrancy this season and can’t wait for our next days at sea.
Please stay tuned, maybe we will break some records by the time this season is over! Michael
