On today’s 1:30 whale watch aboard the Aurora, we decided to head to a different area since the Asteria didn’t have much luck in the morning. Luckily Captain Tom was able to navigate through the choppy seas and traveled to the SW corner to find a group of three humpbacks – Pepper, Bayou, and Pele, as well as a few blows of some other whales in the distance.

Pele's tail

This group of three seemed to be doing some probable subsurface feeding, and we even got evidence of this by observing a brown cloud at the surface after the trio went down on a dive. It was great to see these three working together to feed, and on occasion Pepper would turn at the surface. It was also great to see Pepper, the second named whale first seen in 1976.

Pepper's fluke

At one point Pele surprised us with a quick tail flick at the surface! We also observed Bayou’s injured fluke, most likely from a propeller wound which was first observed a few seasons ago.

Bayou with tail wound

Luckily it has healed and she still seems to be able to feed and forage ok. We wrapped up the trip watching these three dive behind us, as well as observing another humpback in the distance.

Special visitor

PS: We also had a special visitor in up on the third deck join us!

— Laura & Jessica