Sunday on the Atlantic Queen

Humpback Whale Head

Another crazy day! Started off with a couple elusive fin whales and a couple minkes, and then moved onto the hot spot for the day - we counted at least 20 humpbacks and several fin whales in the area! If only we could have spent time with every one of them, but the whales we did see were just spectacular.

Fin Whale, the second-largest species on Earth!

Our initial sighting was a pair we have just identified as Basmati and her new calf, born just this past winter! These two were logging, or resting, at the surface, so we just got to see their dorsal fins. Then we moved on to more activity...

One of the many highlights of the trip was seeing one of my favorite whales, Filament, with another whale, Crisp who was laying on its back, flipper slapping! Flipper slapping is one of my favorite behaviors. When a humpback lifts its 15-foot flipper and smacks it on the water, it makes a very cool sound. The unusual thing about Crisp is that the upper sides of its flippers were black, while the undersides were white. Humpbacks in this area usually have all-white flippers. The humpback's scientific name, Megaptera novaeangliae, means "long-winged New Englander," and we could certainly see why today! As Crisp whale lazily "backstroked" around, Filament calmly swam alongside, and then she did something neat, too - she lifted her head above the water and cruised along, affording us great looks at her head and lower jaw.

Flipper Slapping (click on image to open up a new window with a larger version)

After that, it was chaos, as we got into the thick of things and there were humpbacks and fin whales all around! At one point, we had Quote, a 26-year old female we've seen frequently this year, and then we had this summer's most notable couple, Tripod (a female) and Chromosome (a male), who've been seen frequently together this season. Perhaps Chromosome is hoping to mate with her after they migrate south this winter?

At one point, Chromosome and Tripod were joined by another adult humpback, and this all happened mere feet from our bow! The whales joined together briefly before separating. We then had 3 totally different humpbacks (one of which was Mudskipper) head straight toward our bow, dive, then come up on the other side.

Below are some of the whales we saw today and have been able to identify (click on the photo to open up a new window and see a larger version that shows the whales' names).

It's such a treat to be able to spend the afternoon offshore with so many whales, so many spectacular sightings and nice cool breezes and calm seas on top of it. Thanks to all the great passengers who joined us today, including our passenger from Merrimack, NH who's been out several times already (sorry, I forgot to get your name!). Special thanks to our board member, Dave Verno, and his daughter Madelyn for coming out today!

Incoming fin whale!

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