19 Jun 2013

Rare North Pacific Right Whale Sighted

This is a day we will never forget!

At 1312 we were at 50’33.55 N & 155’44.142 E as we sailed northwards from our morning landing on Paramushir Island in the northern Kuril Islands, Expedition Leader Nathan was just about to announce lunch when a cry of “whale!” went up from the bridge. It was tail slapping in the distance, so we slowed the vessel and turned towards the point where the whale had dived. There was a discussion as to its species and everyone was very excited to think that it might be a North Pacific Right Whale (Eubalaena japonica), the rarest whale in the world. We slowly approached and brought the ship to a halt. We then sat dead in the water and waited with baited breath for the whale to resurface. When it obliged we could view it well enough to confirm that it was indeed a North Pacific Right Whale.

Lunch went on hold and we spent the next hour watching as the whale came closer and closer, at one point breaking the surface just 40m off to starboard. Everyone had clear views of this extremely rare animal and we got some amazing photos. Eventually we had to head away and continued north to Bird Rock as lunch was served. The entire group was buzzing and commented that they had never seen wildlife expert Adam Walleyn move as fast before! It was certainly a day for the record books and another first for the Spirit of Enderby.