Blue Ocean Society's Whale Sightings

Greetings! Thanks for visiting our blog. Our staff and interns will be posting their experiences here working on whale watch boats in NH and MA.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Friday on the Atlantic Queen

Wow! What a perfect day on the ocean, with more species variety than I've seen in awhile.

We started out with a very active pod of  60-80 Atlantic white-sided dolphins - some were slapping their tails on the water, in what might be a feeding maneuver. These toothed whales seemed to be actively pursuing something!

Atlantic white-sided dolphins

Then we moved into sei whale zone - we ended up finding ourselves surrounded by 5 sei whales, with more in the distance! We got terrific looks at these whales, and saw their distinctive, curved dorsal fins and even got to see a good part of the whales' heads as they cruised quickly up to the surface.

The curved, pointed dorsal fin of a sei whale

Two sei whales together!

Sei whale, showing its mouth

Amid all these activity, a juvenile humpback swam by!  This whale proved that humpbacks aren't always the most cooperative species we see - we got one quick look at this whale and then it dove, never to be seen again.

The distinctive "knuckles" on  the humpback's tail stock

We headed offshore to what we thought might be another humpback, and this whale turned out to be one of the rarest large whales in the world - a North Atlantic right whale!

What a day to be on the water - it was especially memorable as my parents and daughter were onboard, along with a crowd that had lots of great questions. Thanks to all who joined us today!

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