The whales kept us on our toes today! The ones we thought we were looking for (who had been seen by other boats only minutes earlier) had disappeared, but only to be replaced by different whales!!
We began by finding a minke whale with a big fin whale nearby, and dolphins in the near distance!! The fin whale had an obvious new injury on its back so we spent a little time trying to get better photos to figure out who this whale was. In the meantime, we were getting closer and closer to a pod of Atlantic white sided dolphins! Dolphins are always a great way to pass the time while waiting for a 10-minute diving fin whale! At one point, the dolphins joined the fin whale but soon the 2 species went on their separate ways.
The injured fin whale, I believe, is #9905, Bolshoi, a male who was first seen in 1980. If so, this whale has been through a lot in his lifetime as he has evidence of a prior boat-collision as well as entanglement scars! Poor guy! We hope to see him again soon to better document his injury and his healing process.
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| Fin whale with new injury |
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| Fin whale spouting near the boat! |
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| Dolphin playing in the wake |
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| Dolphins all around the boat! |
We left the fin whale and dolphins to search out a pair of fin whales not far away. Another whale watch boat had reported them in the area. When we arrived, no whales were to be seen. We searched and searched. Finally, another minke whale showed up, and then another big fin whale, but this wasn't the whale we were expecting! This was #0282- a whale first seen in 2002 and who has not been seen on Jeffreys Ledge yet this year!
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| Fin whale #0282 |
As we headed for home, we found some more dolphins and another minke whale!
Great afternoon in spite of the forecast! Congrats to the winner of our raffle- Beth from VT! Enjoy your adopted dolphin!
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