August 28 - Prince of Whales- Newburyport

Another beautiful day with two trips today!

Our morning trip gave us nice looks at a group of harbor seals hauled out near the mouth of the Merrimack River. These 5-6 foot long marine mammals are just beginning to return to the river after spending their summer along the coast of Maine.

Harbor Seals resting on rocks

A bit off shore we found our first whale sighting- a pair of sei whales! These rare whales have moved into the area the past few days and we were lucky and happy to see them as they usually are pelagic/offshore whales, spending most of their time 200+ miles from Jeffreys Ledge!

Sei whale dorsal fin

Sei whale left side showing the mouth/jaw line!

Sei whale right side- notice how the right lower jaw is all black as opposed to the same part of the common fin whale that is all white!

We also found a really cool trio of sei whales who were scooting around quickly below the surface but nearby the boat so we could watch their green-tinted shadows racing back and forth underwater!

As we kept going, we found a traveling fin whale, much more common to see than the sei whales, but this whale was on the move and we only got distant looks.

Our afternoon trip did not disappoint either. Two sei whales were circling around not far off shore. The sun glare was a bit intense but we were excited to see these whales that are apparently sticking around the area! Who knows how much longer they will be here...

And then we got a call from our other whale watching friends nearby about a huge pod of Atlantic white sided dolphins. This was by far the largest pod we have seen all summer with over 200 dolphins in the group, and many seabirds as well! Lots of dolphin calves were in this pod- always great to see baby dolphins leaping about! At one point, several boats were with this giant pod and they seemed to enjoy playing in our wakes. Several dolphins were surfing the wake while others were leaping out of the water. One dolphin even jumped higher than the upper deck of one of the other whale watching boats! Amazing!! And much cooler than Sea World!!

Dolphin mother and calf

Jumping dolphin!!!

Some of our favorite passengers on the bow watching for the dolphins to make another close approach!

We passed by a few more sei whales on our way home. It is always nice to see an abundance of life offshore! Can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring!



Keep in touch!Become a Fan on Facebook || Follow Us On Twitter