Wednesday, July 28, 2010

A whale sighting!

The past week has been riddled with bad weather and poor ocean conditions. Because of this, it has been a few days since whales have been spotted in the area. Today, that changed! Right at the end of one trip we spotted Beacon, just outside the harbor. We were delighted as we spotted the first spout and the whale was soon to follow. We watched him for fifteen minutes as he dove and surfaced multiple times. As I went out on the next trip we were able to spot Beacon again as he traveled north towards Lincoln City at a speed of four miles per hour. Beacon was in the area last week, before the bad seas set in. I am hoping that he returns to feast in the area and we can spot him again soon!

Gray whales are extremely curious by nature, and Beacon displayed that today. He would surface close to the boat and once he even swam under us. Although they are curious, we must always leave the decision to approach the boat up to them. In the picture above you can see as Beacon surface to check us out on the boat. You can spot his eye if you follow the mouth line.

Yesterday, although there were no whales, we did come have a very rare encounter, we spotted an elephant seal! We are hoping that seas remain calm and the whales become frequent! Stayed tuned to hear more about whale encounters!