July 27- Prince of Whales- Newburyport

After a long day of searching in windy and rough conditions yesterday, we were greeted by shockingly calm seas this afternoon. Heading out to the ledge, we passed by many schools of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna! These large fish (up to 1000 pounds) were splashing all over, trying to catch some smaller fish for lunch.

As we were watching the tuna, our special guest Mr. Mercer pointed out a minke whale in the area. We attempted to get some looks at it but the minke whale had other things in mind which did not include being looked at by at 95-foot boat. We never did relocate this whale, just showing us again how fickle nature can be.

Then we found some splashes and fins that looked different from the tuna...these were Atlantic white sided dolphins! Hooray!

These dolphins are residents of the Gulf of Maine but only seen on about 20% of our trips!

Another shy minke appeared and soon disappeared...and then we got word from another whale watch boat in the area that a humpback whale was afoot. This large whale was apparently practicing for the winter breath-holding Olympics since it was staying under water for 14-17 minutes!


Though we are still unsure of who this whale is, we will continue to consult our catalogs to figure that out! Beautiful day on the water! Thanks for joining us!

***UPDATE***Thanks to a distant shot of this whale's tail from Patty Adell on the Atlantic Queen, we have identified our long-diving humpback as Wy! Wy was first seen in 1980, making him AT LEAST 30 years old!! Thanks Patty!




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