5 fin whales at once !

Katharina Heyer/firmm

Over the last 14 days we had 3 separate sightings of a group of 5 fin whales!
The last one was on July 17th. On July 13th we saw them during one of our evening excursions, and the first sighting was on July 8th at 9.00 am. Shortly after we had left the harbour we saw the first blow of a fin whale and then another second big blow. They passed by just 2kms off the shore of Tarifa! And after a short while we saw more blow spouts, there were 5 fin whales all together! What a wonderful privilege it was to accompany this fin whale family!

Photo: with calm ocean

Unfortunately, this magical experience was suddenly disturbed by a fast ferry (in the background) and another whale watching boat (in the foreground), that tried to catch up with us.

Photo: Ferry

In order to give the fin whales a bigger path and to create an escape route for them (which was getting smaller because of the ferry) we turned right. Before we understood what was going on, the other whale watching boat put itself between us and the fin whales, crossing the whales in their path. Completely shocked and helpless, we stared at the spot where the whales were supposed to be. Scared off by the noise and extremely strong exhaust fumes, the whales began to escape. They changed their course and came into our direction. They then gave a show like I have never seen before.

Photos: Fin whale family escaping

It was a spectacular display, however, it is sad that this happened because of reckless behaviour by another whale watching company.