July 16 Atlantic Queen

So nice to escape the heat on land today. We had nice cool weather out on the water as we made our way to Jeffreys Ledge. With a few reports of humpback whales, we headed out 25 miles off the coast in search of these animals. Our first humpback whales were a pair feeding in the area. Neither whale had a distinct dorsal fin which made it difficult for the interns to distinguish which animal was which. Either way they put on quite a show for us on board. Can you tell the difference?

 Luckily we were able to get some photos of the underside of these whales' flukes that will make identifying these animals a little bit easier. I'll try and update this post as soon as I know who the whales are.

While these two humpback whales were putting on quite the show for the passengers, we were surrounded by a few more animals in the area. Overall we counted 3 minke whales, and one other humpback whale. With just enough time we made our way over to the third humpback. Although this animal did have a dorsal fin there was a large scar on the top of this whale. This scar is most likely from a ship strike. Ship strikes are a major threat to the marine mammals in the Gulf of Maine, and particularly these endangered species.

Thank you to everyone who joined us out at Jeffreys Ledge today! Congratulations to Roz Weizer for winning the whale adoption raffle today. She is now the proud owner of Pinball, one of our adoptable humpback whales. Hope to see you soon!

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