June 27 on the Granite State

While we always enjoy seeing any sort of marine activity out on the water, we tend to get intrigued when we happen to come across something a bit more unusual. Sometimes we see different birds, or sharks, or whales, that peak our interest in unexpected ways. Such was the case this morning.

Our crew, naturalist, and Blue Ocean Society summer intern, were all chatting with each other prior to the trip about Minke whales this morning. This particular species of whale is actually the only baleen whale not to be endangered. Population estimates are upwards of one million worldwide. Throughout the discussion we were commenting on how mom/calf Minke whale pairs have VERY RARELY been seen on Jeffreys Ledge and for that matter why we have never come across a Minke whale unusually small (a yearling perhaps). While we were throwing around different thoughts and potential reasons it was time to leave the dock and head offshore.

Well what do you know. . . our conversation became real life! The first whale we found today was an incredibly small Minke whale. This animal's size was relative to the Minke whales we normally see and have seen over the years on Jeffreys Ledge. While adult Minke whales can reach lengths of 20-30ft long, this particular animal was MAYBE 10-15ft long, if that at all! I know the photograph does not do much justice to gauge just how small this animal is but it was by far the "tiniest" anyone of us have ever seen!

Our Minke whale surfacing and then going on a deeper dive

Thanks to Heather our intern, she recorded the location and behaviors (down to the second!) of this animal. It will be interesting to see if we get a chance to see this whale again. Maybe get a chance to take more photographs and start to learn why we here in this region of the Gulf of Maine typically do not encounter such potentially young Minke whales.

Our Minke sighting was only the beginning as we found other Minke whales, multiple Fin whales, 2 Humpback whales, and even a Basking shark during our trips today.

One of the Fin whales we spent time watching today

A Humpback whale coming up to the surface to exhale and then take a breath of air

Some of our whales provided passengers the chance to see active feeding behaviors such as a whale filtering water through hundreds of baleen plates and a Fin whale side lunging through the water!

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