September 10 Granite State

Large, fast, sleek, and agile pretty much sums up our trips today. During both of our trips we got some great looks at Fin whales swimming through the water. These animals being some of the second largest animals on the entire planet were just coasting around the ocean with such ease.

Even when we dealt with a little unexpected "adventuresome" sea conditions this morning, the whales still had no problem maneuvering around the area unfazed. Just incredible. On both the morning and afternoon trips we spent time with the same animal that was still circling around the area. In the afternoon we even got a chance to see a "present" left on the surface of the ocean, a red cloud in fact, of whale defecation! This animal had recently been feeding on krill. We also had another Fin whale move into the same area in the afternoon and managed to get some wonderful looks at both of the whales before ending our day.

Fin whale #9709 surprised us it surfaced amongst the other Fin whale in the area allowing for some great close looks off our port side!

Of course we also had a few surprises on both of our trips as well. This morning we were lucky enough to see out of the blue a Basking shark not too far away from the boat. This large fish (the 2nd largest shark on the planet!) was just swimming through the area. As this shark remained just underneath the water we were able to slowly stay alongside it and get some great looks.

The dorsal fin (left) and the tail (right) breaking the surface of the water as this shark swam alongside us!

Such a large creature and one that doesn't even have any teeth in its mouth! It is a filter feeder just like many of the whales we see! Granted sharks filter feed slightly differently than baleen whales but Basking sharks feed on plankton just like some whales! What an unexpected find and some incredible looks at such a large fish!

A closeup look at the dorsal fin of our Basking Shark

Our afternoon special treat was a pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins. Our friends on the Atlantic Queen had spotted these animals and passed along the information so we could get a bit of time watching these quick "little" whales zig and zag through the area. The group consisted of about 25 whales and were meandering around giving us some wonderful sights around the entire boat!
Another day of whales of different shapes and sizes with a few of unexpected surprises mixed in. Basically something we hope for on a daily basis. Who knows what we may find while searching the ocean but we have as much fun as hopefully all of you do seeing just what lurks underneath the water in the vastness of the Atlantic Ocean.

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