Minke whale and dolphins 22/06/09
Finally we had a fantastic day! After looking intensively for the last 3 weeks, with only seeing whales for a short time, we were rewarded on the 22 of June. Just as we were out in the fjord, lying there quiet with our boat, listening for whales, a minke whale crossed our path. we could clearly hear its blows, because the weather was perfect: no wind but sunshine. Minke whales do not communicate when they are alone and we could not hear him calling. He had a straight course towards Skrova inside the fjord. He allowed us to follow him for while. Fortunately no whaler was around to shoot him and we had the whale to ourselves.
In the evening we received a phone call from a friend that they saw dolphins just outside Henningsvaer and we went out with the boat at once. Atlantic white sided dolphins were slowly traveling just outside Henningsvaer. It was a group of about 12 animals and they had a swimming course towards Stammsund. We could take good pictures for Photo-identification and later found out that this group was new to us. Good pictures reveal scars and nicks on the dorsal and will tell us “who” it is. We don’t know anything about these animals here in the north and it is extremely important to collect as much data as possible. So if you see dolphins out in the Vestfjord or on Vesteraalen, please give us a call and take good pictures of (the left side if possible) their dorsal fin.
Here are some pictures, enjoy!
