August 19 - Prince of Whales- Newburyport

A sperm whale was seen again today, but this morning it was accompanied by a pod of Atlantic white sided dolphins! Seeing the largest toothed-whale hanging out with some of the smallest was quite humbling! The notches on the flukes confirmed that this was the same sperm whale we saw yesterday afternoon.

Dolphins leaping as the whale was down for an 11-minute dive

Sperm whale and white sided dolphin

Sperm whale flukes, with dolphin diving nearby

Sperm whale flukes- note the distinct notch in the right fluke!

This was the best look I have had of a sperm whale since my days working in Baja California, Mexico. The seas were glassy calm, the sun was shining, and no other boats were around. We had this visitor all to ourselves!

On our way in, we found a larger pod of dolphins, and passed a couple of blue sharks. Even as we were heading back to the dock, the crew was all excited to get back out there on our afternoon trip!

Apparently, the news of the rare sighting had spread, and of course everyone from Kennebunk, Maine to Newburyport, MA wanted to catch a glimpse of our visitor. At one point, 4 boats were all in the area, waiting for the sperm whale to show itself. The last boat to see it reported it taking 35-45 minute dives- long for us but completely within reason for a sperm whale!! Then we saw the distinctive blow leaning to the left just under a mile away from us. All 4 boats started towards the whale, and the whale became a bit evasive. We decided to cut our losses and move away from the whale, and instead spent the rest of the afternoon with some very active dolphins as well as a graceful pair of fin whales.

This is one of the reasons that I am grateful for working with the whale watch companies that we do- each captain/naturalist team understands whale behavior and knows when to stay, and when to go. Although we really wanted to show all of our afternoon guests this extremely rare whale, we knew what was best for the whale, and certainly having 4 boats moving toward a whale that is already in a foreign neighborhood isn't good for the whale.

We were lucky to have other species so close by including a large and active pod of Atlantic white sided dolphins.


And then thanks to our friends on the Granite State, we got great looks at a pair of fin whales (the second largest animal on Earth!), including fin whale #0354!

Fin whale #0354

Thank you again to all of our patient and enthusiastic passengers today!




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