25 June 2022

Species seen today: White-beaked dolphins, minke whales, humpback whales and harbour porpoises

After days of cancellations due to poor sea conditions, we were finally able to safely head out on whale watching tours today! On our 10am tour, we headed to the more sheltered areas of the bay and first found a pod of around 10 white-beaked dolphins. At first they didn't seem to interested in us but after we got closer, a few of the younger individuals in the group got a bit curious and came right up to the boat. We then found 2 or 3 minke whales spread out in a similar area. The first individual we smelled before we saw it! Really living up to the name Stinky Minke! We then finished the tour with a pair of humpback whales. One of which showed their fluke just before we had to head back to the harbour. On the 12pm tour, we saw a humpback breaching only once but after that it came quite close to the boat a couple of times. It did a few tail splashes so we left her alone. During the time the whale was diving we managed to see a few harbour porpoises going around the boat and before we head back we managed to spot a minke whale a couple of times. Everyone was very happy!