Our favourite family of sperm whales

We spent today with our favourite family of sperm whales. Over the years we have encountered and identified many sperm whale families and extended groups, the one we encountered today is the most encountered so we have got to know them very well, and it seems they are also comfortable around us. Our earliest record of this group dates back 2003, when we first photographed a whale with a white patch on her back, a sperm whale we now call “Orca” because of this saddle patch (orcas also have a saddle patch on their back). In the afternoon we photographed her with this patch clearly in sight, 13 years after our first photograph of her. Other family members we encountered today are another adult we call “Bear paw” together with a juvenile we call “Diamond” (a pair we encountered in the morning) and also “Left tip” among others who we encountered in the afternoon. There were also some mystery young males closer to shore in the morning, but they didn’t want to show themselves. As for dolphins, we encountered some nice groups of our resident dolphins today. In the morning we were with common dolphins while in the afternoon we encountered a big group of at least 50 bottlenose dolphins, including many small babies. 

Photos from the morning:
Two familiar sperm whales. The adult is “Bear paw” and the juvenile is “Diamond”

Bear paw and Diamond

The view of the sperm whales from our catamaran

Our zodiac boat with the sperm whales

Our catamaran with the sperm whales

Bear paw going on a deep dive
Common dolphins

Our boats with the common dolphins

Common dolphins with our catamaran
Photos from the afternoon:
An adult sperm whale with a small baby

Sperm whale lobtailing (seen from the zodiac boat before the catamaran arrived)

The sperm whale we call “Orca”

Sperm whale watching on the catamaran

Beautiful bottlenose dolphins

A juvenile bottlenose dolphin leaping in front of the catamaran for all to see
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