The weather had kept us on land for the last couple of days and when that occurs, we always wonder how the whales are affected if at all by storms that travel through...has the food ditribution changed, who or what are we going to find? We often ask ourselves that everyday that we are out on Jeffrey's Ledge, but it can be even more of a question after not being out for a couple of days.
What a day it turned out to be! We started our day with a harbor seal sighting right outside Rye harbor and had a feeling that it may be a sign of good things to come. As we headed to Jeffrey's Ledge we encountered a very nice Ocean sunfish who seemed quite curious about us as it swam by the right side of the boat. They are the largest bony fish species in the world and are one the most unique creatures that we see while looking for cetacean activity.
We ended our trip with a sighting of 1 Humpback whale...and with so many whales around I was surprised we were able to see 3 different baleen whales during our trip. This whale was identified as "Andes," a 4 year old born in 2007 to a mother named Scratch. This is the first time that we have seen Andes on Jeffrey's this season and we just named this whale about one month ago! This was a great way to end our trip and we were so anxious to return for more action in the afternoon.
Our afternoon was much like the morning with high numbers of Sei and Fin whales. We had 2 blue sharks before reaching the ledge and they seemed very relaxed along the surface.
In total for the afternoon we had 10 fin whales, 23 Sei whales, and schools of bluefin tuna to add to the excitement. We were still in awe with the high numbers of whales in the area and simply couldn't believe the further we travelled, the more whales we saw and continued to see exhalations on the horizon.
Even though there has been a large number of Sei whales in our area, they are quite rare to see. We do not have a catalog of these whales like we do with known humpbacks and finbacks that have returned to Jeffrey's Ledge for a number of years, due to the rarity of sighting this particular species. However, we can tell these whales apart also by the shape and size of their prominent dorsal fin. This Sei whale photographed above looks like someone cut the very tip of the dorsal fin off, which will help us identify this whale in the future if we see this whale again.
We were able to end of our whale watch with a pair of fin whales and it was a great experience for eveyone aboard.
The feeding conditions on Jeffrey's right now are perfect!
We ended our trip with a sighting of 1 Humpback whale...and with so many whales around I was surprised we were able to see 3 different baleen whales during our trip. This whale was identified as "Andes," a 4 year old born in 2007 to a mother named Scratch. This is the first time that we have seen Andes on Jeffrey's this season and we just named this whale about one month ago! This was a great way to end our trip and we were so anxious to return for more action in the afternoon.
Our afternoon was much like the morning with high numbers of Sei and Fin whales. We had 2 blue sharks before reaching the ledge and they seemed very relaxed along the surface.
In total for the afternoon we had 10 fin whales, 23 Sei whales, and schools of bluefin tuna to add to the excitement. We were still in awe with the high numbers of whales in the area and simply couldn't believe the further we travelled, the more whales we saw and continued to see exhalations on the horizon.
Even though there has been a large number of Sei whales in our area, they are quite rare to see. We do not have a catalog of these whales like we do with known humpbacks and finbacks that have returned to Jeffrey's Ledge for a number of years, due to the rarity of sighting this particular species. However, we can tell these whales apart also by the shape and size of their prominent dorsal fin. This Sei whale photographed above looks like someone cut the very tip of the dorsal fin off, which will help us identify this whale in the future if we see this whale again.
We were able to end of our whale watch with a pair of fin whales and it was a great experience for eveyone aboard.
The feeding conditions on Jeffrey's right now are perfect!
I am thankful everyday that I get to go spend time with whales in their natural habitat and that I have shared my experiences with the passengers that have some to visit. It was a pleasure to have everyone aboard and I thank you for taking time to visit with us and the whales! Hope to see you in the near future.
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1 comment:
nice fish.
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