The last 2 days aboard the Granite State have been fantastic. The number of whales alone continues to be surprising, but I have a few highlights from each trip that I would like to share. On Tuesday morning, we saw a total of 3 Minke’s, 8 Humpback whales, some bluefin tuna, and an astonishing 18 Fin whales. Highlights from the morning include a mom, calf Humpback pair feeding amongst a lot of bird activity. Here are quite a few Wilson storm petrels trickling their feet along the surface after lots of plankton.
As we were spending time with these two whales, we saw another Humpback in the distance that was creating lots of white water along the surface. When we approached, the whale was continually flipper slapping for seemed like an eternity. This whale was identified as “Crisp” first seen in 2003. The unique finding was not only in the repeated behavior, but the color of the whales flippers. Our humpback whales here in the North Atlantic usually have mostly white flippers, with some black, but this whale had all black flippers on the dorsal surface. Here are a few photos of “Crisp” waving his flippers high in the air. The whale also breached for all our passengers to see how big this whale really was.
Wednesday was one of my favorite days on the Ledge. In the morning, we had lots of baleen whales inshore of the Ledge and were able to find toothed whales as well, Atlantic white-sided dolphins. We were able to find “Flask,” my favorite Humpback, who treated all of our passengers and crew to not 1 breach, but 3 breaches close to the boat. No one really knows why whales exhibit this behavior, but he was feeding a lot in the area and maybe he was trying to help his digestive process along. On a personal note, it was Keeley’s last trip aboard the Granite State for her summer internship with us and it was the perfect way to wish her well. I thank her for a job well done and for all the help she gave me this summer. I wish her lots of luck with her senior year of college!
The afternoon started inshore as well, with lunge feeding fin whales. Below, a fin whale is creating that wave and half it’s fluke (tail) is above the water as it was lunging after food.
As we were spending time with these two whales, we saw another Humpback in the distance that was creating lots of white water along the surface. When we approached, the whale was continually flipper slapping for seemed like an eternity. This whale was identified as “Crisp” first seen in 2003. The unique finding was not only in the repeated behavior, but the color of the whales flippers. Our humpback whales here in the North Atlantic usually have mostly white flippers, with some black, but this whale had all black flippers on the dorsal surface. Here are a few photos of “Crisp” waving his flippers high in the air. The whale also breached for all our passengers to see how big this whale really was.
In the afternoon we found 2 Minke’s, 10 Humpbacks, and 14 Fin whales, but spent time with different individuals. We first spent time with a couple of nice Fin whales, which our passengers enjoyed close encounters with. We were also able to spend time with lots of Humpback whales, including “Chromosome” and “Tornado.” There were several other whales in the area, including one we still haven’t identified. As the end of the day neared, we were all looking forward to what the Ledge had in store for us on Wednesday.
Wednesday was one of my favorite days on the Ledge. In the morning, we had lots of baleen whales inshore of the Ledge and were able to find toothed whales as well, Atlantic white-sided dolphins. We were able to find “Flask,” my favorite Humpback, who treated all of our passengers and crew to not 1 breach, but 3 breaches close to the boat. No one really knows why whales exhibit this behavior, but he was feeding a lot in the area and maybe he was trying to help his digestive process along. On a personal note, it was Keeley’s last trip aboard the Granite State for her summer internship with us and it was the perfect way to wish her well. I thank her for a job well done and for all the help she gave me this summer. I wish her lots of luck with her senior year of college!
The afternoon started inshore as well, with lunge feeding fin whales. Below, a fin whale is creating that wave and half it’s fluke (tail) is above the water as it was lunging after food.
When we arrived to the Ledge, we found several different Humpback whales, including “Skua” who was busy feeding and the mom, calf pair we had on Tuesday. Our fish finder was marking intense amounts of bait under neath the water. Just look at all this food. “Skua” is photographed below taking advantage of all of it!
On Tuesday we were unable to identify the mom because we never got a look at the ventral side of her tail. We use the pattern on the underside of their tail to tell them apart, since each Humpback has a different pattern. Well, today she fluked and we were able to get photos of her tail. It’s a female named “Basmati” who was born in 1998. She has returned with her first calf and it’s so exciting to see new life on the Ledge! "Skua" was traveling with them and before we headed back to Rye, “Glowstick” decided to join them. It was a great way to end the day with four whales traveling together. The whales are still feeding in full force and I hope you will join us soon.
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On Tuesday we were unable to identify the mom because we never got a look at the ventral side of her tail. We use the pattern on the underside of their tail to tell them apart, since each Humpback has a different pattern. Well, today she fluked and we were able to get photos of her tail. It’s a female named “Basmati” who was born in 1998. She has returned with her first calf and it’s so exciting to see new life on the Ledge! "Skua" was traveling with them and before we headed back to Rye, “Glowstick” decided to join them. It was a great way to end the day with four whales traveling together. The whales are still feeding in full force and I hope you will join us soon.
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1 comment:
Flask is awesome! Thanks for sharing!
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