whale watching – Page 5 – Syndication Server

Watch: Humpback whale nudges boat, sending man overboard

A tourist in Cabo San Lucas, Mex., while flying a drone from his hotel balcony, has captured footage of a humpback whale seemingly knocking a man from a small boat.

A tourist in Cabo San Lucas, Mex., while flying a drone from his hotel balcony, has captured footage of a humpback whale seemingly causing a man to fall overboard.

The footage, captured earlier this month by Lou Boyer from Playa Grande Resort, is wonderfully narrated but here are a few observations:

The whales in question appear at 52 seconds and involve a momma humpback whale and a newborn calf, and most likely a male “escort” whale.

It’s almost certainly not the father, as mentioned in the footage. Male humpbacks mate with multiple females and do not show loyalty to a single female after mating.

It’s typical for an “escort” to travel with a momma and calf, according to researcher Alisa Schulman-Janiger, as sort of a protector hoping, at some point, for a mating opportunity.

Also, keep an eye on the man, or person, in the pink shirt. As momma whale approaches the boat while supporting the calf on her head, the man lays down at the bow and tries to touch the calf.

As the whales swim beneath the boat toward the stern, the other people move to the port side briefly while the man in the pink shirt walks toward the stern on the starboard side.

The whale seems to be nudging the boat just before the other people rush back to the starboard side, causing the boat to sharply tilt, dumping the man overboard.

So this sudden shift of weight, perhaps more than the nudging of the vessel by the whale, appears to have led to the man falling overboard. (He was safely lifted back aboard.)

At this point, sadly, a small patch of blood appears near momma whale’s fluke, so she may have been nicked by the prop or other sharp object.

An unrelated highlight begins at 2:39, as turkey vultures begin pursuing Boyer’s drone as it’s being retrieved over the rocky landscape. At 3:18 one of the large birds swoops in and is captured on camera at close range.

Boyer, who is from Huntington Beach, Calif., took evasive measures and safely retrieved his device.

Although tourism is light in Cabo San Lucas because of the COVID-19 pandemic, prime whale-watching season is underway.

A whale encounter so close ‘you hear his barnacles moving’

A Southern California whale-watching captain on Tuesday encountered a well-known humpback whale that lingered near his boat as if enjoying the camaraderie.

But what also stands out in Dominic Biagini’s footage, besides the spyhopping and other expressions of curiosity, is the unusual crackling sound the whale made during one of its reentries while alongside the vessel.

Biagini, owner of Gone Whale Watching San Diego, was on a filming expedition 18 miles southwest of San Diego with Taylor Parent when the male humpback whale, nicknamed Snowflake, approached the boat.

The footage, including slow-motion segments, is stunning. But viewers might pay special attention to the 10-second mark, when the whale spyhops and falls gently backward, producing a crackling sound not often associated with whale encounters.

“You hear his barnacles moving?!” Biagini exclaims to Parent, who has already asked, “Are you serious?”

Asked if he were certain that barnacles produced the sound, Biagini told For The Win Outdoors: “I literally watched the barnacles rubbing together. Watch when his throat pleats flex. You can see the barnacles crunching against each other, making that noise.”

Snowflake, named because of the prominent white coloration on the underside of his fluke, has been documented several times off Southern California.

Biagini added that Snowflake “made my Instagram famous” during three nearly as incredible encounters in 2017. “My first three viral videos were all of that whale,” he said.

On Tuesday he and Taylor captured footage from above and below the surface as as the boat remained idle, allowing Snowflake to approach without interruption. This type of whale behavior is often referred to as “mugging.”

“We went out to film since we found the whales [during a private charter] the day before,” Biagini said. “Instead the two of us just got to lose ourselves in this encounter. Legitimately the best of my life!”

Watch: Dolphin enjoys belly rub against swift-moving boat

Whale watchers out of Oceanside, Calif., on Monday watched a Pacific white-sided dolphin enjoying a belly rub against the boat.

Who doesn’t love a good belly rub? And who says you have to be stationary to enjoy the sensation?

For whale watchers out of Oceanside, Calif., on Monday, it was fun just watching Pacific white-sided dolphins swim beneath the 50-foot Oceanside Adventures catamaran. The mammals are a fairly common sight during the winter, according to Donna Kalez, owner of Oceanside Adventures.

But suddenly, in a rarely observed behavior, one dolphin turned upside down and rubbed its white belly against one of the catamaran’s pontoons for nearly two minutes, as though it were relieving an itch.

“We love them and they’re super cute and fun, but normally not that playful,” Kalez said. “But that dolphin was having blast!”

Most dolphin species, including killer whales, are known to swim near and beneath fast-moving vessels, and to surf and leap in their wakes. But physical contact, such as the seemingly effortless belly rub shown in the video, is not commonly observed.

Pacific white-sided dolphins are named because of the light coloration that runs along their sides and into the facial area. The mammals have black beaks and and a black ring around each eye.

The footage was captured via iPad by Oceanside Adventures first mate Chris Fairbanks. Capt. Shane Hansen was driving the boat.

–Top image courtesy of Oceanside Adventures; generic Pacific white-sided dolphin image courtesy of NOAA Fisheries

Humpback whale boosts spirits in struggling Alaskan town

A humpback whale has been frequenting Ketchikan, Alaska, almost daily for the past month, helping to lift spirits as the city reels from a lack of tourism.

The whale, nicknamed Phoenix, is feeding on herring and possibly salmon fry with dramatic upward lunges, sometimes just yards from onlookers on docks and walkways.

As days shorten and a bleak winter approaches, more residents are discovering the joy of searching for Phoenix throughout the channel fronting the town.

“I love everyone’s photos of him. He is a star!” reads one of hundreds of comments on the Whale Spotters Ketchikan Facebook group page, whose membership has spiked recently to more than 2,600.

ALSO ON FTW OUTDOORS: Sea otter catches shark in extremely rare species interaction

Some are posting alerts, so others will know where to look. “Phoenix is heading south from Safeway, now. 10:30 a.m.,” reads a Sunday morning post.

A comment last Friday: “I love how many people are gathering to see this whale! If I didn’t see all of the cars parked along Berth 4 I would have missed this today. Thanks for making it obvious when he is near, fellow whale lovers.”

This comes at a time when many of Alaska’s humpback whales have migrated to nursing and mating grounds in Hawaiian waters. But Phoenix, for now, is content to fatten up in the chilly, rich waters off southeast Alaska.

“I know for a fact that there are still quite a few humpback whales up here not far from Ketchikan, but this is the only one buzzing so close to town,” Dale Frink, a photographer and naturalist, told For The Win Outdoors. “A lot of people, especially kids, have been able to see a whale up close for the first time without having to get on a boat.”

Ketchikan, whose economy relies heavily on cruise ship tourism, lost that revenue this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But residents are trying to look past this year and their mood seems to brighten whenever Phoenix opens wide for a giant gulp of tiny fish.

“Ketchikan rises from the ashes of 2020 with Phoenix the Humpback Whale leading the way,” Frink wrote last week on an Instagram post showing Phoenix feeding a stone’s throw from onlookers.

Frink, who moved to Ketchikan recently after accepting a job at Allen Marine Tours, allowed the use of his photos in the body of this story. The top image, which shows some of Phoenix’s admirers, was approved for use by local photographer James Lewis.

Phoenix was named by photographer Bob Lippert, who was the first to document the whale off Wrangell, Alaska, in 2017. Phoenix, whose sex is unknown, has since been documented several times in the channel between Wrangell and Ketchikan, according to the Happywhale citizen-scientist identification catalog.

How long the whale will remain off Ketchikan is anyone’s guess.

–Images courtesy of James Lewis (top) and Dale Frink

Watch: Boaters euphoric as massive whale ‘mugs’ vessel

Whale watchers on a recent voyage out of Newport Beach discovered just what means to be “mugged” by a 50-ton humpback whale.

Whale watchers on a voyage out of Newport Beach, Calif., on Saturday discovered just what means to be “mugged” by a 50-ton humpback whale.

The accompanying footage, captured by Mark Girardeau, shows the whale surfacing just inches from the 36-foot boat, generating an almost euphoric collective response.

“What do you do when a massive whale decides to surface right next to your boat? Well, stay there and enjoy it!” Girardeau wrote Tuesday on the Orange County Outdoors Facebook page.

The humpback whale was encountered during an all-day Pacific Offshore Expeditions trip, and remained with the boat for 30 minutes. When curious whales approach and circle boats in this manner it’s described as mugging behavior.

ALSO ON FTW OUTDOORS: Sea otter catches shark in extremely rare species interaction

The man shown in Girardeau’s video, enjoying the closest view, is Patrick Coyne, who wrote on Instagram:

“Saturday’s trip was one of the best days out on the water I’ve ever had. We had this curious Humpback whale check out our boat multiple times and get extremely close. These gentle giants truly amaze me and you can clearly hear how excited I am in the video.”

While NOAA Fisheries guidelines suggest that boaters remain at least 100 yards from whales, the proper course of action when a whale approaches a boat is to remain idle and let the situation play out.

Great white shark circles whale-watching boat for 45 minutes

A great white shark grabbed the spotlight Sunday during a whale-watching charter out of San Diego when it circled the boat for 45 minutes.

A great white shark grabbed the spotlight Sunday during an all-day whale-watching charter out of San Diego when it repeatedly circled the 27-foot boat.

Domenic Biagini, owner of Gone Whale Watching San Diego, described the rare encounter on Facebook:

“A Great White Shark was patrolling a kelp patty, and decided it wanted to come take a closer look at our boat! For nearly 45 minutes this beautiful shark circled our boat at close range, making for a truly special encounter.”

Biagini told For The Win Outdoors that the 8-foot juvenile shark was sighted 15 miles offshore after his six passengers had viewed a pod of dolphins, and before they would encounter humpback whales.

ALSO ON FTW OUTDOORS: Tourists react as Yellowstone wolves gang up on grizzly bear

The footage shows two passengers at the bow watching in silent disbelief. But Biagini said the other passengers were alarmed and one asked, “Is it going to jump in the boat?”

Biagini captured the topside footage with a cellphone and first mate Kyle Henderson captured the underwater footage.

White sharks this size typically prey on small fish and rays, and are more commonly encountered in coastal waters.

Gone Whale Watching San Diego ran 8-hour trips Friday through Sunday and posted its sightings tally on Facebook:

–26 humpback whales
–2 fin whales
–2 minke whales
–1000s of common dolphins
–100 bottlenose dolphins
–1 great white shark

–Images courtesy of Gone Whale Watching San Diego

Baby humpback whale ‘finds her wings’ with full body breach

For the second time in less than two weeks a photographer in Australia has captured images showing a humpback whale calf breaching completely free of the water.

While humpback whales are famous for breaching and other surface behaviors, the massive cetaceans rarely become totally airborne.

Rachelle Mackintosh captured the accompanying photo sequence Saturday for Merimbula Whale Watching. It was the 18-foot female calf’s first of many breaches near the vessel.

“Before that, she and her mum were very friendly and curious and kept coming over to the boat to say hi, and then suddenly this calf found her wings and boom – she was airborne!” Mackintosh told For The Win Outdoors.

“After they breach once you can usually tell if they’re going to jump again by the way they dive down or do a slight flick of their tail, so I was able to get a few more photos of her subsequent jumps. But that first breach was her funniest and craziest!”

On Sept. 28, Mackintosh photographed another breaching calf whose entire body cleared the surface, while aboard a Go Whale Watching excursion off Sydney, 300 miles north of Merimbula.

Humpback whales are migrating from nursing and mating grounds off eastern Australia to summer feeding grounds off Antarctica, where they’ll spend months gorging on shrimp-like krill.

Mackintosh said Merimbula, in New South Wales, represents a resting area before the whales begin their long journey across the Southern Ocean.

She added that she has yet to photograph an adult humpback whale in a full body breach because that’s an especially rare phenomenon (humpback whales can weigh 50 tons).

“It’s mostly just the calves and juveniles who get all the way out like that,” Mackintosh said. “Some of the adults can get almost all the way out but it’s pretty rare to see that. I think full body breaching is more common during our [southern] migration because we get so many youngsters and they are learning and practicing their behaviors.”

–Images courtesy of Rachelle Mackintosh

Spectacular whale images captured from bathroom window

A California photographer who shared some of his most spectacular whale images Thursday let his followers in on an intriguing secret.

A California photographer who shared some of his most spectacular whale images Wednesday let his followers in on an intriguing secret.

Doug Croft, who works for Blue Ocean Whale Watch out of Moss Landing in Monterey Bay, confessed that the images accompanying his Facebook post were not captured from either of the vessel’s two decks – but from its restroom.

“When I’m deck boss, I spend my time on the main deck [with passengers],” Croft wrote. “When I’m on the boat for fun, I spend a lot of time below deck, in the head. The porthole in the bathroom severely restricts field-of-view, but the low-to-the-water perspective more than makes up for it.”

The image atop this post was captured in April 2019, when a 40-ton humpback whale breached only 15 yards from the stern of a small boat as its captain trolled for salmon. The massive cetacean fell backwards, away from the fortunate angler.

ALSO ON FTW OUTDOORS: Yellowstone motorcyclists caught on video harassing bison

The second image, showing surface-feeding humpbacks close to the coast, won the 2018 NOAA Get Into Your Sanctuary Photo Contest. The third, showing a lone breaching humpback whale in a graceful arch, was displayed in the State Capitol in Sacramento and featured in Outdoor California Magazine.

Croft allowed For The Win Outdoors to feature his images in this post.

Regulars aboard Blue Ocean’s vessel, High Spirits, know to bring their cameras into the head while answering nature’s call.

Kate Cummings, captain and naturalist, told For The Win Outdoors that the narrow porthole affords a unique perspective because it’s so low to the water.

“It’s also more satisfying when you nail a shot from the head, considering the added challenge of shooting through such a small area. You also can’t beat the comical bragging rights.”

Croft’s Facebook post generated several comments, including one that he jokingly wrote: “If I were designing a whale-watch boat, it would have multiple bathroom windows.”

High Spirits is a 60-foot twin-deck vessel that’s presently running with limited loads, in compliance with COVID-19 restrictions.

Humpback whales, along with a vast array of other marine mammal species, are commonly spotted in Monterey Bay.

–Images courtesy of Doug Croft

Amid an eerie haze of smoke, whales emerge to feed

A surreal orange haze that has prevailed across portions of California this week also has spread across coastal waters, casting marine critters in an unearthly light.

A surreal haze that has prevailed across portions of California this week also has spread across coastal waters, casting marine critters in an unearthly light.

The accompanying images, captured Wednesday by Blue Ocean Whale Watch in Monterey Bay, show humpback whales and a Risso’s dolphin in what Capt. Kate Cummings described as “a natural sepia filter” created by wildfires.

“Yes, it was apocalyptic on the ocean too; and no, it didn’t stop the humpbacks from being humpbacks,” Cummings wrote in a video post on Facebook.

Cummings’ charter encountered humpback whales and Risso’s dolphins as a patchy orange sky darkened considerably in late afternoon.

ALSO ON FTW OUTDOORS: Rainbow trout comes up blue in rare Lake Superior catch

“My instrument panel lights were visible the entire day, when typically you can only see the lights before or after sunset,” Cummings told For The Win Outdoors. “It was surreal to say the least.”

The mammals weren’t always easy to spot in such conditions.

“The photographers on board had to be watching their ISO settings constantly, at one point up to ISO 4,000 to adjust to the low light,” Cummings said. “It was eerie, creepy, and sometimes beautiful.”

The entire Bay Area – and many other areas in California – have been affected by smoke from wildfires for the past several days.

Cummings said conditions improved markedly on Thursday, however, as she motored into Monterey Bay with another charter group.

–Images are courtesy of Eric Austin Yee (top two) and Doug Croft

Whale photographed ‘playing’ with giant, toxic jellyfish

A Massachusetts whale-watching charter on Wednesday enjoyed a close encounter with a humpback whale as it seemingly enjoyed its own encounter with an enormous, toxic sea jelly.

The 7 Seas Whale Watch crew at first thought the female whale, known locally as Abyss because of the dark coloration of her fluke, was “kelping,” a behavior that entails rolling in kelp as sort of a spa treatment.

“[But] upon closer inspection we realized that it wasn’t seaweed at all!” the company stated on Facebook. “Abyss was actually playing with a Lion’s Mane Jellyfish! This is something that none of us had ever seen before.”

Lion’s mane sea jellies live in cold water and can boast a bell measuring nearly 8 feet in diameter, and tentacles that span 100-plus feet.

The largest recorded specimen was measured off Massachusetts by Alexander Agassiz in 1865. It’s bell diameter was 7 feet and its tentacles measured 120 feet.

The tentacles, used to stun and capture plankton, small fish and smaller jellies, are toxic to humans. But most sting victims experience only temporary pain and redness.

https://www.facebook.com/whalewatchingma/posts/3937808746236057

Abyss, the daughter of a whale nicknamed Scylla, did not seem fazed by contact with the sea jelly’s tentacles.

Jay Frontierro, a captain and marine biologist with 7 Seas Whale Watch, told For The Win Outdoors that the whale seemed to be curious and “having fun” with the sea jelly.

“Whales are often curious about things floating at the water’s surface,” he said. “Usually seaweed, but I have seen them investigate balloons, buoys, and even an empty 5-gallon bucket.”

Frontierro added: “My guess is that Abyss thought that the texture was interesting. Humpback whales have sensory hairs on their heads that act as ‘mechanoreceptors’ – like a cat’s whiskers. The slimy texture of a large jellyfish is something the whales probably don’t often experience. “

After she had finished playing with the invertebrate, Abyss swam over for a closer look at the whale watchers.

“It was fascinating watching this whale curiously lift the jellyfish on its head and flippers, but the curiosity didn’t end there,” the company stated. “Eventually Abyss turned the tables on us and did some people watching by swimming circles around and under the boat.”

Video of that encounter is posted above.

–Images of the humpback whale playing with the lion’s mane sea jelly are courtesy of 7 Seas Whale Watch