Momma fin whale!

Sunday on the Prince of Whales, we were treated to two species- minke and fin whales! With the rain finally out of the picture, we cruised out to Jeffreys Ledge with the bright summer sun, and a little bit of wind at our backs! Summer is finally here!

A minke popped up and was spotted by a diligent passenger to give us our first sighting of the day. This 25-foot whale was easy to keep track of as it stayed close by and didn't give us the "minke slip". From there, we cruised along the edge of the ledge and found another minke whale along with a finback whale! Finbacks are still my favorite, and I was excited to see who this whale was. We got some pretty good looks, but I'm still not sure who this friend was. More work looking at our catalogs is needed, or perhaps it could be a new friend!

As we said goodbye to the whales and headed for home, I mentioned that folks should keep there eyes out for possibly more whales on the trip in from the ledge. Sure enough, two more fin whales popped up in front of us! One of these whales we were able to see VERY closely as she turned right for us and swam in front of our bow!! Definitely the best look at a finback that I've had in a long time! With the whale so close, I thought I knew her. Glancing at our on-board catalog, I confirmed my suspicion. This was #9904! (I know- not a very exciting name...) 9904 has been watched on Jeffreys Ledge since 1999, and has been seen every year since 2002. We have known she is a female since 2005 when we first saw her with a calf, and just last year she brought her second known calf to the ledge!

As we were running out of time with 9904, we saw another fin whale just a mile to the south. We didn't have time to head that way, so we continued to the west, toward Newburyport and the setting sun. As I was on the back deck talking with some local passengers, the boat slowed down yet again! Another fin whale surfaced! This made for the 4th fin whale of the trip! Now we were really running late but wanted to see who this was, especially since on our approach, we saw it lunge-feeding at the surface, creating quite a ruckus! Of course, once we got near it, it stopped its feeding display, but hopefully a few of you were able to see the big splash it created. I haven't had time to positively ID this whale, but I know it is familar and is in our catalog. It has a small scar/dent on the front of its dorsal fin. I'll update as soon as I know for sure who this one is! Stay tuned!

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of our inquisitive guests who came along today. Your questions about sleeping and diving were very thoughtful. I always enjoy meeting new people and am always curious to know where you all are from and if you have seen whales in other places. Today we had visitors from Holland as well as a whale watcher who has watched whales in Baja, Mexico with a company I used to work for ! If anyone has further questions, please comment here and I'll be sure to respond. Thanks!