Excited passengers awaiting a whaleWe certainly escaped the heat on land today! Just as we were leaving the Merrimack River, the temperature dropped at least 15 degrees, and the stiff southerly wind threw up (no pun intended...) a bit of sea spray to further cool down our passengers!
A sharp-eyed passenger spotted our first whale- presumably a minke whale- but we couldn't relocate it after a bit of searching. Next another minke fooled us into thinking it was something else as it had a very distinctive blow, which is unusual for a minke whale.
Finally, with luck on our side, we found a pair of fin whales. One was particularly cooperative as it was lounging just below the surface. We could see it's white right side clearly through the choppy seas. When it decided to wake up, it make a sharp turn and went down for a deep dive.
Fin whale blow
Fin whale distinctive chevron pattern (swirly gray markings)
Fin whale dorsal fin- used for ID along with the chevron patternAlthough I haven't had time to check our catalog yet to see if we have seen this whale in past seasons (50% of fin whale are new to our catalog each year!), it has some distinctive markings.
More whales were around us but not behaving all that well for our purposes. Today most of the whales seemed to be going down for long dives and only spending a breath or 2 at the surface. Some days are like this....nature doing what it does best...being nature!
Thanks to all who joined us today including Lila and her family! Lila helped our intern Heather show folks the baleen and did a fantastic job explaining it! Hope to see you all again soon!
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