Feeding frenzy...

With the return of the sunshine, the whales followed. We aboard the Granite State had several Fin whales yesterday, with a few familiar faces. We identified our first Fin whale of the day as #9724. This whale first seen in 1997, treated us to great looks before moving closer to the ledge. As we approached Jeffrey's we were surprised to find a trio of Fin whales travelling together. At one moment, they seemed very curious about us, coasting right along our right side. Here's a photo of one of them. Fin whales are idividually identified by their dorsal fin, chevron pattern, and other unique markings along their back. This whale has a unique marking along the left side that resembles a screw of some sort. Hopefully this marking will help with the identification of this adult fin whale. While with the trio, one of them went on a dive to search for more food and left behind a brown cloud. Yes, the whale defecated! A good sign of a healthy whale.

Another highlight of our day was finding our first toothed-whales of the season. We were lucky enough to see about 20 Atlantic White Sided dolphins during the day and our passengers shared in our enthusiasm.

Today began with flat calm seas and sunny skies. We could all sense that it would be a good day out on the Ledge, and we were right! We had a variety of marine mammal sightings including Harbor porpoise, Minke, Fin, and Humback whales. Fin whale #9724 paid us another visit this morning and I couldn't think of a better way to start off our day. As we moved closer to the Ledge, it came alive with a flurry of bird and whale activity. As we looked down into the water, we could see small fish right underneath the surface...small herring was the choice of food today and they were all over the place. We had several bubble feeding Humpacks taking advantage of all this food. Two adult females, Valley and Tripod were helping each out and syncrinizing their movements. The whales would contniue to make bubble cloud after bubble cloud, corralling food for a mid-afternoon meal. Today, our passengers witnessed nature at it's best! Thank you to everyone who joined us. I will remember the last couple of days for a long time to come.