Aug 12 Prince of Whales

Minke Whale

Our trip started off slowly as we approached the Ledge only to find FOG (a four letter word in the world of whale watching). We made a turn, heading down the edge of the Ledge to avoid the vision inhibiting factor and soon came upon a minke whale. This whale was less than cooperative, taking long-ish dives for a minke and surfacing in all different directions. But soon we were treated to the view of small splashes in the near distance. Dolphins!!

These Atlantic white sided dolphins were one of the best pods I have ever seen! The group was extremely tight and almost felt like we were running with a school of herring, not dolphins, due to the numbers and tight spacing. We saw many mothers with calves- some newborns and some yearlings. A big male repeatedly belly flopped, signaling something to the group. Awesome!!

Mom with calf

Mom with yearling

As we were thinking about leaving for home, our eagle-eyed mate Ryan spotted a tail going down in the near distance. A large whale was among us! We eased into the area and found a humpback whale. This was Crystal!! Crystal has been in the area for nearly 2 weeks which is odd since he normally hangs out on Stellwagen Bank, to our south. For reasons unknown, we have been seeing several "Stellwagen Whales" on Jeffreys Ledge in recent weeks.  We are more than happy to see these faithful whales expanding their horizons and visiting new areas.

Crystal, son of Salt

As we watched Crystal take relatively short dives, we spotted another spout in the distance. Getting there took us through the dolphins again and eventually we found this was a small fin whale! Although the fin whale didn't want much to do with us, we got a brief look at it before it was certainly time for us to head for home.

Fin whale diving

What seemed like a wash-out for a day with the impending fog turned into a beautiful afternoon with 4 species of whales- a Grand Slam!! Thanks to all of our happy passengers who appreciated the variety and behavior of the natural world. And congratulations to Laurie from Newburyport, the winner of today's raffle!!

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