July 6- Prince of Whales- Newburyport

What an amazing day! The heat followed us all the way out to the Ledge, where there was not a breath of wind to cool us down. I can't remember a day when it was that warm 20 miles off shore!

Atlantic white sided dolphins were seen early in the trip, thanks to a passing dragger (commercial fishing boat) who radioed us of their location. These dolphins were very active and were enjoying our wake!

Next, a fin whale spouted in the distance. This whale was one we have been tracking since 2007, when we first cataloged it. Notice the very distinctive entanglement scars. It makes me sad to think of all the threats that these whales face in their natural environment, but happy to know that this whale survived an obviously dangerous situation.

Fin whale #0723

We continued on to the Ledge and saw a couple of blows. We had no idea what we were about to encounter. First a humpback fluked. Then a fin whale spouted. Before we knew it, we were surrounded by 4 species of marine mammals plus 4 species of shearwaters, petrels and krill! Life of all sorts was everywhere!! We actually shut down the boat for a good half hour while fin whale were lunge-feeding right off our bow, humpback whales were diving next to us, minke whales were scooting about, and more white sided dolphins were mixing in with all the larger baleen whales. After a while, I stopped trying to point out all the action. Anywhere you looked, you would see something really cool :)

Fin whale # 0813- distinct double nicks

Fin whale lunge-feeding on its side with a greater shearwater taking off

Fin whale surfacing next to the boat

Humpback whales Hornbill (male first seen in 1977) and Pinball (female born in 1989)

As we tried to leave the feeding frenzy, we found three more fin whales (including #0635 and likely #0831), a minke whale, plus the humpback named Cardhu on the outskirts. This was really and truly another fabulous day on the water!

Today, I'm staying on land to catch up on some paperwork, but the Prince of Whales is offshore as I type. Stay tuned for updates later on!

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