June 12th, Granite State

It was my first trip back aboard the Granite State for the season and I was very excited to be back.   The sky was grey and it was a bit windy on land, but that did not deter our passengers from coming aboard to join us for yet another adventure.  As we made it further off shore in search of whales, the wind did not let up. It made for a bumpy ride, but the whales did not disappoint.  Our first whales of the day were 2 Fin whales and it wasn't long before we realized how special these two whales were.  One of the Fin whales appeared to be much smaller than the other and we were happy to see that it was a mother and her new baby!  This is the first cow, calf Fin whale pair to be discovered this season and it's always a great sign to see new life on Jeffrey's Ledge.  Our cow, calf pair stayed along the surface for quite awhile and mom never let her baby out of her sight. 

After spending quality tme with this pair, we decided to do a little more exploring while we still had some time to spend off shore. We did not have to travel to far away before finding more whales to spend time with. We found an adult Humpback whale named Halfmoon, an adult male born in 1979! Halfmoon was busy creating lots of bubble clouds, a feeding behavior specific to Humpback whales, where the bubbles help corral food to make it easier for the whales to eat large quantities of food.

Another Humpback whale moved into the area, but we decided to stay with Halfmoon for the rest of our time offshore. We were able to identify this whale by photo-identification and it turned out to be an adult female named Pregunta, born in 1990!

A big thank you to all our hearty passengers on board and to 2 boys who shared their 6th birthday with us.  It was great to have everyone aboard and we hope to see you again soon. 

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