Today aboard the Asteria, we had some luck up North near Thacher Island today. When we arrived, we found Nile and Patchwork (unknown gender, first seen in 1997) traveling slowly together and resting at the surface. 

A short time later, Patchwork and Nile started becoming quite active, flipper slapping on their sides. They even began some synchronized flipper slapping, with Nile mostly belly up double-flipper slapping the majority of the time! 

The pair than each tail breached next to the boat, then went back to slapping near the end of the trip, before they began to log as we started to leave. 

Exciting day on the water despite the rain, and very interesting behaviors observed today – Nile was a bit tactile with her flipper slapping against Patchwork, and Patchwork was also covered a bit in seaweed (perhaps playing in it) and spy-hopping. We also had a brief look at a minke making it a two-species day.

Here are some photos of all the action today!