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(On one occasion I saw two of these monsters (whales)probably male and female, slowly swimming, one after the other, within less than a stone's throw of the shore.(Terra Del Fuego), over which the beech tree extended its branches) Darwin,Voyage of a Naturalist. Quoted by Melville.
Here, not Terra Del Fuego, but Cape Cod, not monsters but Humpbacks. Human observers were delighted to see these two approach each other from a great distance and then swim and dive together for close to an hour. The Naturalist aboard told us that the species is mostly solitary, traveling for long distances alone, with the exceptions of mothers and calves which stay together for a year. Solitary whales do however meet up at sea and keep each other's close company for hours at a time. I was interested to find out by my own research that bumps on the whales head are actually hair follicles, and that each has a tiny hair sprouting from it, the function is unclear but speculation is that it may be sensory like whiskers on other mammals.