June 9 Prince of Whales

In spite of our slow start, today's trip ended up being great! And what better way to spend the suppressing hot day than to be offshore??

We began by looking at a traveling fin whale about half way out to Jeffreys Ledge. This huge whale was moving south so we decided to leave it and continue east towards the Ledge.

Fin whale moving quickly to the south

After a bit of searching, we found a very nice group of Atlantic white sided dolphins (our first of the season!!) that were very mellow and social. We got some wonderful close passes from these little toothed whales!

Dolphins crossing the bow

Not far away, we spotted a blow...that then turned into 2 blows! As we approached, we realized we were looking at a mother humpback whale and her new calf!!! The humpback is named Shark based on a marking on her right fluke that resembles the profile of a shark head!

Humpback whales, Shark and calf

Shark going down

Shark's tail- see the shark face on the right corner??

As we were watching Shark and her new calf (her 9th that we know about!) we saw a large dorsal fin cutting through the water towards the boat. This was a REAL SHARK! Fortunately for all those on the bow, this was a large basking shark that is a filter feeder and not harmful to humans. This basking shark was huge- about 20 feet!! And it was feeding (on plankton)- we could see the white inside the mouth as it was coming at us! Very cool shark!

Basking Shark

We also got a quick look at a minke whale in the distance, making our 5th species of the day!!

Thanks to the wonderful students from Cutler today! We enjoyed having you sail with us!



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