Whale Behavior

Identifying their games and tricks

Whales can be identified by their swimming, diving and breaching behaviors. Common behaviors you may encounter on your whale watching adventure:

Spyhopping - When the whale pokes its head out of the water to look around.

Breaching - The whale will swim fast towards the surface and then jump right out of the water, falling back at an angle with a loud splash. The Grey Whale enjoys this behavior.

Tail slapping - Certain types of whales display this behavior, which can be very loud.

Spouting - The frequency of breathing and the height of their spray or blow can also identify whales; spouting is usually quite loud, and can often be seen and heard up to a mile away.

Swimming - Unlike fish, which swim by moving their tails right to left, whales move their tails up and down.