July 9 Prince of Whales

Busy day today!
We started with Satula, an adult male humpback whale. Satula lost his dorsal fin years ago but is doing well.

Satula

A bit further offshore we could see a young whale breaching in the distance but 2 other whale watch boats were already in that area (plus 2 private boats) so we decided to give those whales some space and we ventured on to an amazing whale feeding expedition just a few miles away.

We found our humpback friend, Nile in the area:

Soon Nile was circling our boat and at one point came up behind us as our engines were shut down and dove right under the boat! She is a big whale!!

Nile diving at our stern

Before we knew it, the krill and herring were bubbling at the surface and then Nile came crashing through the water with her mouth wide open, feeding on the buffet!

Nile, feeding on fish and krill

Also in the area was Scylla, another female:

And my all-time favorite humpback whale Spoon!!! Spoon was feeding near Nile during our last few looks before we had to return to port.

Scylla and Spoon

Also in the area were a minke and fin whale!

The disturbing part of today's trip was the amount of fishing gear near the feeding whales. 2/3 of all humpback whales in the Gulf of Maine have scars from entanglements in gear, and we just saw an entangled whale on July 7. Rope is not a whale's friend. Our associates on the Atlantic Queen spotted a recently entangled and injured fin whale today. These events are all too frequent and we need to come up with a solution.

Spoon, first seen in 1977, breathing near fishing gear.

Thanks to all of our supporters today, including Devon who adopted a whale today!! And congratulations to the Gomez family for winning our raffle prize of a Flask adoption package!! Thanks for all of your support as we continue to learn more about these amazing animals and learn more about the best ways to protect them!


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