July 4 Granite State

While this morning brought some sprinkles, a downpour, and then plenty of sunshine, the weather was not deterring our passengers from spending time with the whales!  Our first stop was on a Minke whale just past the Isles of Shoals but with a sudden increase in the size of the raindrops we quickly decided to continue on towards Jeffreys Ledge.  The rain brought clear skies for the rest of the day and once we arrived on the Ledge we had lots of visibility and calm sees to spot whales!  The trip provided a variety of marine life including our whales, some Harbor seals, a few Bluefin tuna, and a Blue shark.  As for the whales we got some incredible looks at our Fin whales as they surfaced a few times just beyond the boat! 

Fin whale

Our trip ended as we found another species, it was Halfmoon the Humpback whale and spent some time with this animal before leaving it to continue to feed (and poop!) out on the Ledge.  In total 8 Minke whales, 2 Fin whales, and 1 Humpback whale later we were headed back in for our afternoon trip.

Halfmoon off on another deeper dive!

This afternoon we were excited to hear reports of whales much, much, much(!) closer to home.  We ended up traveling to a different area of the Ledge than our morning trip allowing us to spend some very nice time with more Minke whales, a couple more splashes from Bluefin tuna, and 2 other Fin whales than the ones sighted this morning.  To our excitement we recognized one of our Fin whales as an animal known to Jeffreys Ledge over the years.  It was #9709.  We know this animal is a female as she was seen swimming with her calf in 2007!  Taking only 4-5min dive we got the chance to get some great looks at her especially at one point when she swam alongside and just beyond the stern of the boat! 

The left and right (below) sides of #9709

A whole lot of body from #9709!

Wishing everyone had a safe and enjoyable 4th of July and hoping the weather was as fantastic as it was where you were, as it was for us out on the water today!

Fin whale creating a tiny "rain-blow" from the diminishing spout as it catches the sun's rays just right

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