July 3 Granite State

Today was quite the day. Not only did we see 5+ Fin whales during both our trips today, the activity we saw from a few of these animals was beyond fantastic. So many of the 2nd largest animals in the world rolling over, actively feeding, and traveling around with each other, was no doubt the show-stopper today.

We started our day on a Humpback whale, the 2009 calf of Siphon, who will hopefully be named by the end of the year. This whale has been swimming around Jeffreys Ledge for a few weeks now and we are of course still enjoying the fact that this 2 year old whale is spending so much time in our area.



While watching this Humpback whale we were seeing spouts from other animals out in the distance and we decided to go investigate the area. Turned out we found two pairs of Fin whales.

Our first pair of Fin whales of the day

The first pair we came upon were slowly maneuvering through the water and surfacing and diving at similar times. We watched as there was another pair of Fin whales out in the distance but as we continued to watch the pair closer to us, the other pair had a few behaviors of their own! Suddenly we were surrounded by 3 very large Fin whales. It did not take long for the 4th animal in the area to join the group as well as we ended up watching 4 Fin whales surface along side our boat. Not just two, but 4 whales weighing well over 50 tons were cruising in the water nearby. Talk about an impressive sight!

Fin whale number 3 joining the group!

Two of the four Fin whales we sighted going down on a deep dive

With some spectacular looks at these massive creatures joining forces in the water we pressed on a further offshore to see what else may be lurking under the water on Jeffreys Ledge this morning. It did not take long for us to find another group of whales, 3 more Fin whales to be exact! This trio was not together long as we saw all three lunge through the water all of a sudden, circle around, and as quickly as it happened, dispersed from one another. One whale continued to travel further away while the other two remained associated in the area. We were still all shocked with what we had just witnessed when one of the whale's dorsal fins was recognized; it was Ladder!!!! This whale is one of our Adopt-a-Whales and a whale the Blue Ocean Society has been documenting on Jeffreys Ledge since 1996. Ladder, having such a distinctive scar pattern on its body (unfortunately due from a boat propeller years ago) has actually been confirmed seen in the Gulf of Maine since 1984 (Thanks to Allied Whale, the keepers/curators of the North Atlantic Fin whale Catalog!)

Even without seeing the propeller marks on this whale's side (above), Ladder has a very unique dorsal fin shape (below), both of which we use to help individually identify this particular Fin whale

Welcome back to the area for another season of feeding on Jeffreys Ledge Ladder!

With a bit more time to do some exploring we ventured yet further offshore again. Little did we know what we were about to find. We began to see small disturbances at the surface and birds flocking overhead. Then we noticed the color of the water, there were red patches everywhere! Small crustaceans called krill were being pushed upward to the surface of the water, as these animals were probably attempting some evasive maneuvering from small schooling fish that were just below.

Can you see the red tint in the water under the birds? That's all krill

With the krill having no place to go once they got to the surface, the birds used this to their advantage and started to not only try to catch the fish, but even the krill were no match for the birds.

More krill attempting to avoid the mouths of fish below and birds above!

To make things even more interesting, suddenly a massive amount of white water went rushing through the whole patch of bait! Fin whale #9618 was lunge feeding through the whole mess of food; krill and fish galore! The show never slowed down as patches of krill "bubbled" at the surface, fish splashing to and fro, and an incredible large open-mouthed whale kept partaking in this pure and utter "organized chaos" of this feeding frenzy!

The lower jaw is extended out (on the left) as this whale, rolled on its right side, lunges through the water with its mouth wide open

The show didn't stop there as this whale was feeding at, and below, the surface of the water. At one point the animal roll completely upside down just under the surface of the water, near our boat, and showcased its all white belly as it was probably still lunging through the water, capturing all the food in its path.

Above: The white under belly of our Fin whale. It appears green due to all of the microscopic plant plankton found in the productive feeding grounds of the Gulf of Maine
Below: The white pleats of this whale as a portion of the body surfaced above the waterline

What an incredible way to watch the food chain in action and end our morning trip. This afternoon it was no surprise we headed back to the same area in hopes of seeing any of the animals that had been sighted during the morning trip. Low and behold our Humpback whale was still around.

Siphon's 2009 calf

We got some great looks at this Humpback whale and were informed from our friends aboard the Prince of Whales not too far away from us was a pair of Fin whales. Off we went to spend some time with a few more of the 2nd largest animals in the world. These two fin whales were actually both animals we had seen in the morning but not in this specific pairing. It is so interesting in just a couple of hours how whales can become associated with one another, venture off on their own, or even become associated with another whale nearby. What a fantastic documentation of research in effect!

One of the same whales seen this morning still circling around the area with a different "friend"

With more time to do some exploring we went off to see if anything else had remained nearby. We did some searching and found out a handful of Fin whales were close, thanks, this time, to our friends on the Atlantic Queen. We ended our trip with 4 different Fin whales circling the area. We even got a couple surprises as a couple surfacings from these animals were just off our bow, and incoming on our starboard side! What a unexpected feeling to have these whales be so close, knowing they are just under the water, and taken aback when they surface so close! With so many whales in the area we just shut off the engines for a bit and let the whales swim wherever the wanted to! What a great day.

Incoming Fin whale

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