August 29 - Prince of Whales- Newburyport

What a surprising day of variety today! We always say we never know what to expect to find each day, and today was evidence of that.

We found a Mola mola (ocean sunfish- largest bony fish species) early in the trip. This was just our 3rd sunfish of the year! We got excellent looks and continued on to Jeffreys Ledge in search of marine mammals.

Ocean Sunfish

We searched and searched. My arms were feeling tired from holding up the binoculars for so long! Two hours had passed since we left the dock and we were getting short on time. To make matters worse, this was the last trip of the summer for our special guests Willy and Pam from Pennsylvania. We couldn't let them go back home without seeing some sort of whale! But then Captain Billy saw a blow.

Even from a distance we could tell this was a right whale! We slowed down and the whale surfaced again, and then lifted its flukes as it went down on a dive. As we waited for it to resurface, Billy saw some splashes further to the east- dolphins! We moved to that area and found ourselves in a huge pod of 200+ Atlantic white sided dolphins all racing around with terns, gannets and shearwaters filling the skies.

Great shearwater taking off

As it was close to the time we needed to leave for home, we spotted another blow in the near distance. Two fin whales were cruising through. One of the two was absolutely huge (exceptional since these whales are the second largest animal to ever live on the planet!).

Huge fin whale!!!

Now it was definitely time to go home. We headed west and soon after leaving the fin whales we saw yet another blow. This was another species of whale- a humpback!!
We intended to get a couple quick looks but then the whale started to feed and we found it impossible to leave! Kickstart- the young humpback whale- was surfacing every minute or 2 with its mouth full of water and food (likely krill and zooplankton). What a spectacular end to our day!

Kickstart

Humpback whale surfacing on its side with its mouth full of food!

So now we really had to head for home. On our trip in we passed by yet another species- a minke whale! And don't forget about the harbor seals! Jeffreys Ledge has always been known for its variety of marine life and today was the perfect example of many species all living and feeding in the same area, sharing the same resources.

Willy and Pam- we will see you soon!

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