FIN. WHALES.

That's right, fin whales. The second largest animal to have ever lived on planet Earth. We saw them, and even better they were just a few short metres from the boat. And it was a mother and calf!

But to start the story I will tell you about the morning trip which was very cool too, we spotted a humpback whale feeding in shallow waters. It was so shallow that the whale was actually leading with an open mouth when it left the water, this is something very rarely seen. I even got a good picture of the baleen plates in the whale's mouth.

See the white plates in the mouth of the whale, this is what a humpback uses to eat!

But the highlight of everything was the trip this evening, the greatest trip I have ever been on and possibly ever go on.

Another researcher had reported seeing fin whales a little earlier so we jumped at the chance to possibly see them (they are very rare in this area). It didn't take long for us to see a huge blow in the distance, this was clearly not a humpback whale.

We had seen them in the distance and whenever we approached they appeared far away somewhere else, then we sailed to where we thought they would surface next. Then Naomi uttered the magic words "It'd be good if they surfaced next to the boat". Instantly there was a huge blow either side of the boat as both mother and calf surfaced simultaneously.

After quite a while following them we left in search of other (more common) species, we found two humpbacks and right at the end of the trip a small pod of white-beaked dolphins. The dolphins were clearly in a good mood as they were bow riding with us for quite a distance, as I was stood at the very front of the boat the dolphins were within touching distance as they were emerging. EPIC. Is the only way to describe today.

And here's my proof of today:

WHAT. A. DAY.

Thanks for reading!