15 HUMPBACKS, 15 FIN WHALE,
20 COMMON DOLPHINS, AND
THOUSANDS OF PELAGIC BIRDS
The annual Viking
Fleet/CRESLI 2010 Great South Channel Whale Watch (our 10th
trip in 9 years) was another resounding success! As in every
year since 2002, we found quite a few whales (whenever the
fog lifted). At times we were surrounded by humpbacks and
fin whales, even when we were anchored overnight. The whales
were busy feeding at depth and at the surface, on krill and
sand eels. Many of the humpbacks were juveniles, and many of
the fin whales were cow/calf pairs. 8 of the 15 humpbacks
were identified by biologists from the Whale Center of New
England, while the others remain to be ID’d. We returned 51
hours after leaving exhausted and exhilarated.
We have now encountered 570 humpbacks in our 10 trips to the Great South Channel. With the
assistance of the Whale Center of New England, we have photo-identified
215 different whales during these trips.
