Front fish, back fish, white fish, blackfish! The marine mammal sightings today have been so good we’re getting a little punchy and making up silly rhymes! There is a bit of sense in it: blackfish is a old sailor’s term for medium-sized toothed whales like killer whales, pilot whales, and their relatives. Today we have seen two species in a very remote part of the Atlantic!
We awoke to calm seas and bright sunshine. Before we had even finished breakfast, Richard spotted a set of distant cetaceans with their dark backs glistening in the sun. We quickly came around, and on approach, found them to be Short-finned Pilot Whales, a group of 30 or so, moving slowly and resting at the surface.
Because the conditions were so good and the whales seemed to be very much at ease, we decided to lower a Zodiac in an attempt to get some underwater footage of them with the splash cam. I threw all the gear into a boat, and in a matter of minutes with Jim driving and Lisa monitoring the recording, we were on our way. A slow approach kept the animals very comfortable with our presence and soon Lisa was giving me rapid fire camera direction, and we were getting on tape some great views of the sleek black whales rising to the surface to breath and then gracefully diving with a few languid strokes of their tails.
We all enjoyed the splash cam footage later in the day at recap, but well before then we had another, even more exciting encounter. This time it was Brent who suddenly called out “Breach!” and ran for the bridge wing. We trained our binoculars on the area of the splash and “That looks like a tall triangular fin,” “yeah… wait that one is smaller… more pilots,” "ummm… No! That’s definitely a tall fin! Killer whales!” Sure enough, we had found a group of rare oceanic killer whales, the first time that they have ever been encountered on a Lindblad Atlantic crossing!
Oceanic pods of killer whales are very rarely seen and little is known about them, but they are thought to be a third (or fourth) genetically distinct race, different from both residents and transients (the well-known races of the Pacific Northwest and other coastal areas). In this case, we had wonderful looks at these beautiful animals as a large adult male rolled and slapped his fins and tail just below the bow. Nearby, another male and several females and younger animals moved back and forth, occasionally spy-hopping and even breaching a few more times. As the encounter went on, we kept our cameras busy, recording this remarkable sighting. But every once in a while we put the cameras down, took a deep breath and just soaked it all in: rare whales, calm seas, bright sunshine, and beautiful clouds in the heart of the tropical Atlantic.
We awoke to calm seas and bright sunshine. Before we had even finished breakfast, Richard spotted a set of distant cetaceans with their dark backs glistening in the sun. We quickly came around, and on approach, found them to be Short-finned Pilot Whales, a group of 30 or so, moving slowly and resting at the surface.
Because the conditions were so good and the whales seemed to be very much at ease, we decided to lower a Zodiac in an attempt to get some underwater footage of them with the splash cam. I threw all the gear into a boat, and in a matter of minutes with Jim driving and Lisa monitoring the recording, we were on our way. A slow approach kept the animals very comfortable with our presence and soon Lisa was giving me rapid fire camera direction, and we were getting on tape some great views of the sleek black whales rising to the surface to breath and then gracefully diving with a few languid strokes of their tails.
We all enjoyed the splash cam footage later in the day at recap, but well before then we had another, even more exciting encounter. This time it was Brent who suddenly called out “Breach!” and ran for the bridge wing. We trained our binoculars on the area of the splash and “That looks like a tall triangular fin,” “yeah… wait that one is smaller… more pilots,” "ummm… No! That’s definitely a tall fin! Killer whales!” Sure enough, we had found a group of rare oceanic killer whales, the first time that they have ever been encountered on a Lindblad Atlantic crossing!
Oceanic pods of killer whales are very rarely seen and little is known about them, but they are thought to be a third (or fourth) genetically distinct race, different from both residents and transients (the well-known races of the Pacific Northwest and other coastal areas). In this case, we had wonderful looks at these beautiful animals as a large adult male rolled and slapped his fins and tail just below the bow. Nearby, another male and several females and younger animals moved back and forth, occasionally spy-hopping and even breaching a few more times. As the encounter went on, we kept our cameras busy, recording this remarkable sighting. But every once in a while we put the cameras down, took a deep breath and just soaked it all in: rare whales, calm seas, bright sunshine, and beautiful clouds in the heart of the tropical Atlantic.
