July 12- Prince of Whales- Newburyport

Variety is the spice of life, right? Well, today we had all sorts of variety with animal sightings and weather conditions! The left the Merrimack River with thick fog. We headed to a location where our friends on the Granite State found Fulcrum, a humpback whale, earlier. As we approached, we slowed down as visibility was only a hundred feet or so. A small pod of Atlantic white sided dolphins appeared out of nowhere, leaping 10 feet into the air off our bow! We all got some very good and close looks at these frisky animals! We continued on slowly and shut down the engines in order to hear the reported whale in order to guide us closer to its location. Whale listening in the fog is really kind of fun! We heard a blow, turned the engines back on and motored slowly to where we heard the blow. Then we shut down again and listened. After a few of these series, a minke appeared off our port bow, and as soon as it was seen, it disappeared into the mist. Soon, another blow was heard, and another minke appeared briefly. We never did find Fulcrum.

We headed further to the east where boats were reporting better visibility. As we found, it is difficult to see whales when the visibility is so poor. We eventually found the sun and over 5 miles of visibility- perfect for spotting whales! Our captain spotted a blow up ahead. As we approached, the one blow turned into three! We soon found a mother and calf pair of humpbacks, with a third whale close by!
We never were able to get a good look at the mom and calf, but did get great looks at Geometry, the "small" humpback that was slowly traveling just below the surface. Those long white flippers glowed neon green, allowing us to keep track of his movements. Although we didn't get a look at his flukes, we did get great looks at his dorsal fin. Comparing these pictures to the ones I took yesterday (when he was with Fulcrum), I confirmed that this was in fact Geometry, a 13 year old humpback whale)!

Geometry spouting- not the round bumps (tubercles/hair follicles) on the nose, in front of the raised blow holes.

Geometry's dorsal fin

As another whale watch boat arrived, we decided to get one last look at the mom/calf pair before heading home. We really don't like to crowd the whales with more than one boat near them if we can possibly help it. We all need to remember that these are endangered animals (due to human greed) and we need to do our part to make sure they have the chance to recover to their pre-whaling populations.

Leaving the humpbacks, we soon encountered a huge fin whale! At this point we were running a bit behind schedule and could only stay for one look, but the whale cooperated. Fin whales are the second largest animal to ever live on the planet!

Fin whale

Heading back to Newburyport, the skies darkened and lightning was seen flashing nearby. The radar showed a couple of thunderstorms heading our way. With luck on our side today, we managed to stay mostly dry and avoid the bulk of the storms.

Thanks to everyone on board today for your patience with our fog-watching and your enthusiasm with the whale-watching!


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