This morning there was a 10-12 knot southerly wind so it was a little chilly on the boat but there was only a meter swell so we were fairly comfortable. And once we found the first pod of the day about 7 miles out, any thoughts of chill were forgotten! The two whales came quite close and we got to see a breach. We then saw another pod of two who treated us to fluke up dives as they made their way along and then a trio who came close to the boat and showed off their tails with peduncle throws. Peduncle throws are also called tail lunges and are a powerful maneuver where the humpback pivots its head downward and uses its large pectoral fins to perform a quick upward and sideways thrust of the fluke (tail) and peduncle (the muscle which connects the fluke to the body): the whale throws its peduncle sideways, landing with a huge splash of water.
