2 June 2022
We have met up with a couple of Humpback Whales heading north bound close to Fingal Island on our 10am whale watch cruise, at times the whales were coming quite close to the boat and only doing three minute sounding dives. The crew have then sighted a Minke Whale, Minke Whales have a sleek, dark grey body and a tall sickle shaped fin that curves backwards. Look out for the distinctive white ‘armbands’ on the pectoral fins (front flippers). Their blow is weak or invisible, making them harder to spot and identify. The scientific name for Minke whales translate to ‘winged whale’ and they are members of the baleen whale family and are the smallest of the great whales.
During the afternoon whale watch cruise aboard the Hinchinbrook Explorer we have come across a pod of three very playful Humpback Whales that were interacting with and swimming along side a pod of Oceanic Dolphins and pod of Bottlenose Dolphins. One of the whales has split from the pod and playfully approached the vessel, coming up sveral time only a couple of meters away on the bow of the boat.