July 25th Starfish

Beautiful day out at Jeffreys Ledge. It practically felt like fall with the cool breeze out on the water. Passengers were able to enjoy this weather as we made our way out into the Gulf of Maine. We had such a wonderful trip with very close sightings! Our first sighting was a fin whale. These are the second largest species on the planet, and this individual was quite large! This individual had a very consistent pattern of behaviors averaging 5 or so breaths before taking 5 minute dives. It certainly made our job easier to have such a cooperative fin whale. Because of the calm water, passengers were able to get a great look at the bright white side of the fin whale. One of our young passengers was even able to count down as the whale reached the surface. Possibly a young naturalist in the making...

Very low profile look at a fin whale

After spending some time with this particular fin whale we noticed a few more spouts in the distance and decided to check it out. But before we could move, we noticed a blue shark just on our port side. Usually when we see sharks out at Jeffreys Ledge they are very fast and do not spend much time at the surface. This shark, however, couldn't have been more relaxed. It just quietly swam the length of our boat giving passenger ample opportunity for some great photos. It was my first shark sighting of the 2012 season, and hopefully not my last.

Once the shark dove deeper, we made our way over to two other fin whales in the area. These animals were associated for most of the time we spent with them. They were synchronizing their dives and breaths which was very cool to see. We don't often see fin whales (or most baleen whales) in pairs. These animals need to eat approximately 1 to 2 million calories every single day during the summer months. That means they need to eat nearly the entire school of fish, and are not in the business of sharing.

Thank you to everyone who joined us on our trip yesterday! Congratulations to Dawn Lynch for adopting Comet (one of our adoptable fin whales). Finally happy 12th birthday to Lexi! Hope you enjoy the rest of your vacation with your family!!!

Just a reminder that if you have any photos that you would like to submit to the Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation photo contest, you can send them to abby@blueoceansociety.org The deadline is July 30th!

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