July 12th, Granite State

Today was definitely a great day to be offshore! A light breeze made for cooler conditions and what a way to beat the heat. As we left the harbor, this schooner was close to the Isle of Shoals and what a sight to see as we headed to Jeffrey's Ledge in search of cetacean activity. We saw a couple of Minke whales inshore and after spending a little bit of time with them, we decided to continue on our way in search of other whales.

As we approached Jeffrey's Ledge, we came upon a couple of different pods of Atlantic white sided dolphins. They were spread out and moving quickly through the water. Our boat wake made them swim without effort and a few came clear out of the water. We let our friends on the Atlantic Queen know that we had some dolphins, and they shared that they had a Fin whale with them not that far away. As they headed to the Dolphins, we left them and went in search of the fin whale. As it surfaced, I started to snap photographs in hopes of identifying this whale. I quickly realized that this was a whale I recognized. It was Braid! We saw this whale on June 21st, and I was glad to see that this whale was back in the area. As you can see by the photo below, this fin whale was the victim of a boat strike at some point during it's young life, but survived to tell it's story. This whale is now easily recognizable to us, but it came at quite the price!

After spending quality time with Braid, we decided to more exploring offshore, but unfortunately we didn't come across any other activity and it was time to head back to Rye. After about a half hour or so, I was answering passenger questions, when the Captain started to slow the boat down. As I looked up, there was a tug and barge, and I figured that was why he was slowing down. It turned out that there was another whale that had surfaced close by and we wanted to find out what it was. We waited for several minutes and saw the whale surface off our right side. It was another fin whale. This whale seemed larger than most of the other fin whales I've seen before and it kept a very low profile. We tried our luck and stuck around for a little while longer...and I'm glad we did! It was not one whale, but 2 fin whales swimming side by side and as soon as they went on deep dives, we realized who was in the area. It was Blunt and Crow!! Blunt and Crow have not been seen yet this season and it was great to find these whales back for another feeding season. Blunt was first seen in 1982 and even though all fin whales are huge, Blunt actually looked small in comparison to Crow, who is one of the biggest fin whales we see on Jeffrey's Ledge. Blunt is photographed below.

Crow, was first seen in 1987 and is one of our favorite's! This whale was named due to the distinct shape of the dorsal fin resembling a crow's beak. This whale is photographed below.

It was such a great way to end our trip. Finding two whales that have yet to be seen this season and on our way home! Thanks to all our passengers who joined us. You found a great way to cool off!

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