My Nana, who comes whale watching with me every year, tells her friends that the ocean is like a big lake. "It is so calm out there. You have no idea you are on the ocean!" Of course, she only comes out on the calmest of days! Today was one of those days- barely a ripple on the water on the morning trip, and just a slight cooling breeze on the afternoon trip. It was a perfect day for watching whales.We had "grand slams" on both trips today- dolphins, minkes, finbacks and humpbacks!
The dolphins were performing right on cue today :) Several mother/calf pairs were spotted. And lots of dolphins leaping and surfing in our wake as we departed...
We also found some finbacks in the morning, and then continued on to find lots of humpbacks feeding on Jeffreys Ledge.
Mudskipper, the humpback, feeding- showing the ventral grooves that will allow the mouth/throat area to expand when feeding so the whale can take in massive amounts of water and fish!
Mudskipper and Jabiru were feeding together, and approached Tripod and Chromosome, but both pairs stayed loyal and went off if their own direction.
On our way back to Newburyport, we passed 2 more humpbacks- Pinball to the left and Colt to the right. Pinball was bubble feeding so we got some great looks at her. Thanks to Stephanie and the Weis and Roelofs families for adopting her!!
On our way back to Newburyport, we passed 2 more humpbacks- Pinball to the left and Colt to the right. Pinball was bubble feeding so we got some great looks at her. Thanks to Stephanie and the Weis and Roelofs families for adopting her!!
Pinball fluke
Pinball feeding!
Finback spout- check out the white lower jaw!
Finback dorsal fin- located 2/3 of way down the backAfter the finbacks, we found another pod of dolphins! These little guys were very ellusive during the first part of our season but are coming on strong now! We got some great looks are more mom/calf pairs and several jumps as we left them.
Our first humpback whale of the afternoon was Colt. This 28 year old male, born to Equus back in 1981, was active as we were watching him from a distance- lots of breaches, flipper slaps and tail breaches- but as we approached, he seemed to be all tuckered out. At one point, he swam right across our bow as we were sitting idle. What a great close look for those folks on the bow! (though I wonder what the gentleman in orange was looking at...)
Colt passing the bowThroughout the afternoon, we were bouncing from whale to whale as the humpbacks seemed to be everywhere! Ivee was feeding close by. Milkyway was visiting with Basmati and her new calf, Tripod and Chromosome were still hanging out together, and a few more whales were seen further off in the distance!
Ivee feeding- check out all the birds trying to pick up her scraps!Another beautiful day on Jeffreys Ledge! Thanks for visiting Newburyport Whale Watch and the whales! Check our website for more info on whales and how to support our mission: http://www.blueoceansociety.org/
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2 comments:
What an awesome day out there on Sunday morning. Lots of great pictures were taken I am sure. I got a number of them myself. It was so beautiful out there that my mom was in shirt selves the whole trip...that like NEVER happens. We loved the morning trip so much that we actually talked about going back out in the afternoon trip as well, but we were feeling the sun almost immediately getting back onto shore.
Thank you to the whales and dolphins and the shark we saw for an AWESOME and enjoyable day. Thank you as well for the staff on the Prince of Whales for doing a great job in finding just some of the wonders of the ocean.
Hi Tara,
Thanks for taking the time to comment! It was a fantastic morning trip! I'm glad you and your family could make it. And thanks for reminding me about the shark- forgot to post that on the blog!
Have a great week and we hope to see you again soon.
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