Wow

All of us aboard the Granite State yesterday morning were quite anxious to get back out to the open ocean and once again go in search of whales. Our last trip had been on Tuesday and knowing a large chunk of time had passed we were very interested to see what we might, or might not, find leaving Rye Harbor.

Our morning trip took us straight out to Jeffreys Ledge before we spotted any large mammals. Of course getting out to the ledge we passed by 4 different Ocean Sunfish (7 in total for the trip!) and got some close looks at one of them. They are one of the most bizarre creatures I've ever seen and was great to see so many in one trip. We realized during this single trip we had more sightings of Mola mola's than we have seen throughout the entire season thus far.

We came across a single Fin whale that was only coming up for a breath or two before diving back down when we spotted lots of splashing in the distance. A pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins! With around 75 of these whales swimming together we got some great looks before we then spotted some other, much larger, splashes in the distance. So off we went!

Once we got close we saw one. . . wait two. . . . wait 3 Fin whales actively feeding! But it wasn't just Fin whales we had. There were lots of Shearwaters and Bluefin tuna splashing all about going after all the schooling fish, which the whales were also ultimately going for. What a show. A few instances you suddenly saw tons of fish jumping out of the surface and within a matter of moments an enormous mouth wide open just scooping up all the fish. To make things even more crazy, during one surfacing ALL 3 Fin whales were simultaneously open mouth feeding together! I thought seeing two 60+ ton Fin whales doing this was spectacular, but 3?!?!?! Oh my goodness. These pictures barely do the sighting justice but can you see just how much food was in the area for these whales? All those shiny things in the photos are fish!

What a morning. It was even better knowing that we had another trip to spend in the beautiful weather and go in search of more animals. We actually ended up a bit inshore from Jeffreys Ledge during our afternoon trip when we first spotted a pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins. This particular group had around 60 dolphins and a large number of greater shearwaters and common terns following the pod. As we spent time with this group we began to see exhalations from some large whales a few miles away.

Turns out we ended up being surrounded by a dozen Fin whales in the area. We got some awesome looks at a few of these mammals when a couple of them surfaced alongside the boat. As we were enjoying the fin whales we noticed a very unique, and very familiar, dorsal fin. It was Tigris, the Humpback whale.

WOW! Tigris apparently had a mission of it's own today. Not once, but twice this whale spent ample time checking out the ENTIRE haul of our boat! The whale ever so slowly would surface and just position itself right next to the boat. After spending several minutes on one side it would go under the boat and position itself on the other side right next to the boat. The humpback whale spent some time at the bow and stern pretty much spending some quality time at every angle of the boat. Wow, did our passengers have a close encounter! Maybe this whale decided it was time to watch us humans, as opposed to us humans going out to watch these animals.

Tigris held us hostage but no one seemed to mind. An event many many people very rarely encounter but rarely forget. The most interesting part people seemed to be amazed at was the fact that we literally have seen this whale over a dozen times this year and yet we have never seen this behavior from this animal before. Needless to say our crew was just as ecstatic as all the passengers.

As much fun as it was to spend some amazing quality time with Tigris it is just as important to reiterate the fact that we have no control over these wild animals we go in search for. It was Tigris who decided to do what it did as we just happened to be the lucky ones to experience it. Any and all of these whales can do whatever they want at any time which is why this field is so exciting, anything is possible.

A special thanks having some special guests on board this afternoon. It was great seeing some family and friends and I hope everyone on board today left with some very special memories.

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