July 1 Granite State

Happy July and happy start to a holiday weekend! We had quite the trips today, each very different, and yet quite incredible in their own ways. The ocean was about as beautiful as it could get with calm seas and gentle breezes and the day just got better from there.

This morning we started out with Hornbill, a Humpback whale, that we got word of thanks to the early morning charter fishing vessels on Jeffreys Ledge. While spending some time with this animal out in the distance we saw some splashing and we knew we needed to investigate. It was a pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins! There were around 20-30 animals in this group and a great treat as folks got some great views of these mammals swimming all around the boat. It wasn't long until there was another spout from a whale just beyond the dolphins. Having enjoyed our time with the dolphins we pressed on and came upon another Humpback whale, Satula. Now this might by silly but the highlight of the time spent with Satula was when this whale pooped! How often can people say they saw whale poop? Well there it was just as Satula went down for a dive and it was brown, an indication this whale not only had recently been eating (the more you eat, the more you need to get rid of excess waste!) but this whale had been feasting on small school fish, most likely herring! Did you know depending on the color of the defecation one can determine what kind of food the whale has been eating? Brown = schooling fish and red = krill.

With such great conditions we decided to do some searching and see if Jeffreys Ledge had anything else in store for us this morning. Little did we know the day wasn't done. Our next stop was a very large Basking shark which everyone got really great looks at as this fish swam right alongside the boat. Being the second largest shark in the world it is always quite impressive to be able to see the entire length of one of these creatures only feet from you! We then came into an area where we found a pair of Humpback whales, Literal and Ivory's 2009 calf swimming around together.

The almost all white tail of Ivory's 2009 calf

This pair was slowly maneuvering through the water and again allowed for some great passes right alongside the boat. With a bit more time to spare we decided to press on from this pair of whales and go searching a little while longer.

We ended up finding yet another species of marine life, a Fin whale. This whale was spending lots of time under the water and out in the distance there was something else going on; more splashing! We found another pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins. This particular group was quite a bit larger than our previous pod, consisting of around 80+ whales. To make things even more interesting this pod was heading straight towards a pair of Fin whales!

Our pair of Fin whales. Above, Fin whale #0520 and below, the very uniquely marked back of our second Fin whale

Soon the dolphins were associating with the Fin whales. Small and large mammals interspersing the area together, while not being a rare occurrence, it is something we do not get a chance to see all that often. The surprises weren't over yet. Just as we were about to leave one of the Fin whales decided to leave a nice patch of processed food at the surface; more whale poop! The color of defecation left behind this Fin whale was red. And what does that mean? This whale had recently been enjoying a whole lot of krill during its last meal! In the end we had dolphins and Fin whales around the boat it was hard to decide where to look. What a wonderful way to end our trip!

The afternoon conditions remained the same and with such great visibility we were off again towards Jeffreys Ledge. Our first sighting of the day was another Basking shark and this fish was so unaffected by our presence we again got some amazing looks as this shark swam by the entire length of our port side. What a sight!

Our first mammal of the afternoon was a single Humpback whale doing some deeper feeding as this whale was circling the area and coming up with mouthfuls of salt water and fish in its mouth.

The lower jaw of this Humpback is bellowed out as this whale is ridding itself of all the salt water in its mouth and trapping all the food inside thanks to the hundreds of baleen plates these whales use as a filtering device!

Perhaps one of the most interesting thing about wildlife is that everything to an extent is unpredictable. We hadn't seen this whale this morning and the whales we had spent time with this morning were not making themselves known. Were they still in the area, had they moved on to other areas of Jeffreys Ledge in search of different concentrations of food, where had this particular whale been this morning? Whatever the answers we were excited to come upon this whale as it continued on with its daily activities.

The day wasn't quite over as with a bit more time we were off again looking for more life. We made our way to an area where whales had been reported by our other whale watching families out in the Gulf of Maine and figured we would "swing through" on our way home. Well we ended up staying put for a while as we ended up over lots of bait in the water and multiple species actively feeding nearby!

What our fish finder on board looked like. The screen itself is split in half but as we sat with the engines off we were in 220ft of water and almost the entire column of water directly underneath us was completely engulfed with food!!! The more food in the water the darker, or more red, the area!

Nile the Humpback whale and a large Fin whale suddenly started to zig and zag around the area.

Nile

Nile started to show remnants of bubble clouds, a feeding mechanism, used by Humpback whales to corral fish. Then, the Fin whale began to lunge through the water with its mouth wide open! These whales were definitely taking advantage of the plentiful food in the water.

The flipper of our Fin whale as it was rolling around and lunging through the water!

You could actually look into the water and see small red creatures underneath the surface. The area was chalk full of krill and probably other fish eating the krill! Within moments we had both large whales rolling over on their sides, mouths wide open, scooping up as much food as possible.

Our fin whale creating quite the disturbance as it charges after some food!

At one point both the Fin whale and the Humpback whale were circling the same particular area surfacing one right after another. What a spectacle! Then out of the blue a third species of whale made itself known. Right in the middle of things a Minke surfaced close by. Looks like all the animals nearby wanted to get in on the food!

The unfortunate result of a whale and a boat propeller coming in contact with each other. Thankfully this Minke whale survived the ordeal.

It was another great end to the trip and a wonderful end to the day! As is always the case with wildlife sometimes you just happen to be in the right place at the right time; today seemed like one of those days.

Thanks to all our passengers who joined us today, especially so many of you who were first time whale watchers, both young and "wise," and visitors from all over the country.

What will tomorrow bring? Only the whales know that for a fact, but we can't wait to find out for ourselves. Hope to see you out there in search of such massive cetaceans!


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