July 29- Prince of Whales- Newburyport

What an awesome day leaving Newburyport this afternoon! I have to admit, I wasn't looking forward to whale watching today (sounds like a chore, doesn't it??). Yesterday we drove around for 5 hours and didn't see a thing. I really didn't want to go back out there. But I should know better. Getting skunked (not seeing any whales) happens from time to time and is all part of watching for wildlife.

First we found a very frisky pod of Atlantic white sided dolphins. These little "whales" were quite active and lots of calves were in the pod too! This is what we'd call a nursery pod. A few large males were in this pod too, apparently trying to show their dominance to us- one breached (jumped) several times right next to our bow, and landing in a big belly flop!

Atlantic white sided dolphin

Soon after passing off the pod to our friends on the Atlantic Queen, we found a minke whale. It was a bit elusive at first but soon we were able to get some great looks. Another minke whale was seen a little while later- great day on the water!

Minke Whale

We were out of time and were heading home, hoping to see more but satisfied with the day, especially after not seeing anything yesterday.

Driving into the west, I saw a spout and some white water in front of us. As we got a little closer, I saw it was a humpback whale kick-feeding! We are used to seeing minkes and fin whales close to shore, but not usually humpbacks! What a great surprise! Kick-feeding is when the whale kicks its tail on the surface, creating a disturbance in the water and possibly stunning the small fish. Then the whale blows a cloud or ring of bubbles in the same spot, and typically comes up in all that disturbed water with its mouth wide open, attempting to catch some of its required daily calories!

The flukes looked somewhat familiar but I knew we hadn't seen this whale around here yet this summer. Looking at our catalog on the way home, I realized our active friend was Whirlygig, a 10 year old humpback born to Pinball in 2000! We had seen this whale as a calf in 2000, but I don' think I have seen it since then.

Whirlygig!

Kick-feeding- check out all that splashing!

Open mouth at the surface

A view down the blowholes of a whale

A fabulous end to a lovely afternoon! Just goes to show we never know what we will find out there from day to day!!


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