July 14 Granite State

It was another adventure for us this afternoon on the Granite State. Sometimes it is the whales that provide the entertainment, sometimes it is the ocean that does the "entertaining," and sometimes we are lucky enough to have both! So was the case today with all our hardy passengers who joined us for our trip today.

Our first stops to watch whales was attempted on a Minke whale and another animal was saw a spout from. Unfortunately both animals decided to slip under the water, and the waves/swells, and we were unable to relocate our first finds of the day. Our rough and tough fishing boats who had ventured offshore in the morning were on their way home and passed along the news of whales a bit further offshore. We pressed on and were definitely rewarded for the "rollercoaster" effect all of us endured as we maneuvered to the area.

Once we arrived we made our way over to one of the Fin whales we were seeing (3 in total!) and ended up watching a few patches of krill being pushed up to the surface by fish below. Our whale surfaced once and then sank back underneath the water. Turns out all our Fin whales we saw today we being quite the sneaky creatures. They would surface once, filtering water out of their mouths, and then disappear into the depths of the water for a while before randomly showing up in a completely different area during their next filtering episode. As long as you were looking in the right place you were able to watch such incredibly large mammals surface for a breath and then be gone a moment later. All the more impressive when you think just how easily the 2nd largest animal in the world can show itself and then be gone so quickly.

As we randomly watched the Fin whales surface about we were fortunate to spend some time with good ol' Satula, who continues to feed on Jeffreys Ledge.

Even without seeing the unique black and white pattern of this Humpback's tail, this animal's unique (or lack of) dorsal fin allows us to recognize this whale as Satula!

This whale was also surfacing with its mouth full of food and water, just as the Fin whales were displaying.

Satula rising to the surface with a mouthful of food and salt water

Satula was chomping down on food as we watched not only multiple bubble clouds form in and around where this whale was surfacing but we also saw whale poop! Brown in color, this animal had recently digested small school fish, most likely herring, and was excreting the waste created by eating so much food. A little disgusting and yet still pretty cool to see from an large adult whale!

If you look closely you might see a bit of "brown" water just near the base of Satula's tail. Yep, that's whale defecation!

More excitement awaits for us tomorrow as we head back out to whatever Mother Nature has in store for us! Come on out and start your weekend off by hopefully looking at some of the largest creatures on this planet!

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