Tuesday August 9th on the “SHIP OF FOOLS”. Another perfect summer day on the water, 2-3+ ocean swell, light offshore winds, warm water and broken clouds.

Jumped in the boat with the cameras and charged out of ER to see “if” I can locate some whales, dolphins or bunker.  I love days like these with no chop, flat waters. Yes, there is an ocean swell but it doesn’t get in the way of going fast when you see something, a chop does. Whale watching is very boring at times but when you find something it makes up for it.

I didn’t see bunker until miles out but I found them. With them, I saw what looked like a balloon on the surface 2 miles away, minutes later a splash and I knew it was Dolphins. I let them be, as most of the time I do, I am looking for Humpbacks.

An hour later and 5 miles further out I saw a very faint, weak blow, then a good sized splash followed by another good blow during that splash, I just spotted two Humpbacks. The Humpbacks were 3+ miles away in the other direction and I was already 14 miles from the inlet. I could have been there in 4-5 minutes but then, when I arrived in that area, I had to find them, watch them (photograph) and get back. I didn’t have that time.

I chose to turn around and head towards home and if I saw those dolphins from the beginning of the watch I would stop for a few photos. I did meet up with that pod and there were 15 or so dolphins with a few calves in the mix. They were feeding and playing but they didn’t want anything to do with the boat, as usual, and kept their distance. All the better, I had to go anyway.

15 dolphins, 2 Humpbacks and a decent amount of Bunker on the surface during the 40+ mile run. I didn’t get the Humpback photos but I saw them and that’s the way it goes sometimes.