Today we were hopeful to finally get a second survey in for a week after such a long spell of rough weather. We gave it a try, but no luck! There was a bit of a swell but very low winds in the morning, but once we got out on the water, the waves began to build higher and faster then predicted, so we turned around. This is a perfect example of how quickly the weather can change this time of year, and how we constantly need to be dynamic and flexible with our survey effort. We will continue to wait for some better weather. Thanks to all our staff, crew, and interns that gave it a try today!

After a bit of rough weather, today there were great conditions to conduct our third survey for the season. We began the day slowly traveling up our 40-mile easternmost track line, and after completing almost the entire track with no sightings, we saw a right whale lobtailing repeatedly several miles away, at the very northern tip of the track. We approached the whale slowly, but by the time we reached it, it began subsurface traveling, sinking quickly below the surface and then surfacing at a random location 10-15 minutes afterwards. Luckily, the whale eventually began to be surface active, rolling belly-up and slapping its pectoral fin, so we were able to obtain the photo identification data we needed.