Captain Eric’s iPhone captured this humpback whale starting to breach right next to the Condor Express. Wow! Amazing shot, Eric.
Unusual breaching behavior today
While never being in any real danger, today the Condor Express witnessed the wildest breaching humpback whales as you would every want to see. After a nice trip with bright sun, very light seas, and a small herd of common dolphins, we got up on the feeding grounds only to be greeted by 2 very friendly humpback whales. The two beasts soon adopted a clever “trick.” They apparently went hiding directly beneath the boat, then when their fans on board the Condor least expected, one of them would shoot up in the air, performing a mighty breach just a few feet away from the boat. Luckily these breaches were directed away from the boat, but as you can see in the photograph above taken by second Captain Eric’s iPhone, it was enough to get your heart pumping. One of the whales also played around next to the boat upside down…doing some upside down lob tailing. Then some right side up lob tailing. Then some tail throwing and a lot of kelping (playing in the drifting Macrocystispaddies). Then some more breaching. This fantastic humpback whale performance lasted more than an hour. Next a giant blue whale surfaced and dove a few times in the area, seemingly feeding on a krill layer down deep. Later we encountered another solo humpback making the total three for the trip. There were spouts in the area but we did not want to leave center stage and take a chance on a new, unknown whale. On the way home another medium sized pod of common dolphins was watched, making the dolphin total around 800 for the day.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store. Bob Perry Condor Express
Comments