August 1 Granite State

This morning was a bit of an unexpected surprise.  Whales have been around and we have been enjoying spending time with anything we encounter.  Today however, was a little bit different.  After leaving Rye Harbor and traveling to Jeffreys Ledge we ended up coming into an area where there were a few spouts around.  As we got closer, the spouts became more plentiful.  Whales were literally EVERYWHERE!  Within a matter of minutes we were seeing 12+ animals in every which direction.  It was a bit chaotic as we attempted to watch whatever was around, figuring out just which whales were moving, which were staying put, and what species was nearby.  Before all the whale action we actually stopped on a Blue shark swimming amongst the whale frenzy and then eased our way toward 3 Fin whales near by.  These whales were on the move, which we ended up encountering later on in our trip, and continued to ease our way to another trio of whales.  This time it was 3 Humpback whales.  All three whales were circling around spending only minutes under the water.  A few minutes later we knew who we were watching.  It was Ebony, Cajun, and Bat. 

Ebony and Cajun surface alongside the boat

These three animals continued to circle around the boat and got some incredible looks before making our way to some of the other whales we were seeing.

Bat

Cajun

Further out more Fin whales were surfacing in so many directions.  Taking our time and attempting to get looks at any whale that surfaced in our general vicinity, we continued to watch pairs, and singles, move around the area. 

Two extremely large Fin whale barely creating any disturbance on the ocean's surface

More spouts further away intrigued our curiosity as we continued stopping, looking, and seeing more whales.  At one point we found another trio of Fin whales moving through the water together and a single surfacing just off our port side.  Whoa, what a fantastic look at one of these creatures!

Fin whale at the surface allowing us to see it's flipper!

We began running short on time and turned towards home only to cross paths with 4 Humpback whales.  These whales were on the move as three of the four were actually the ones we had spent time with earlier in the morning.  However, this time another "friend" had joined them.  We were able to identify this fourth whale as Sundown.  All in all we sighted 6 Humpback whales and 16 Fin whales throughout our morning travels.  Wow.

Sundown joins in on the fun

This afternoon we were off to see if some, or any, of the whales were still near by.  Turns out we got the chance to see 5 different Fin whales.  Like this morning, the Fin whales in the area were being a bit sporadic in their surfacings.  These whales were spending a bit of time under the water and changing direction, but with some patience we got the chance to get some great looks at this species.  Our first Fin whale this afternoon was one we had seen from this morning.  Great that this particular whale was still going strong on Jeffreys Ledge. 

One of the same whales seen during our morning and afternoon trip!

Later we moved onto other area where we had had luck in the morning and found more Fin whales.  A few were being elusive, coming up for a couple breaths and disappearing for a while, so we headed towards a spout we kept seeing quite frequently.  Turns out that single spout, and whale once we got into the area, turned into two whales!  This pair of Fin whales while moving, were providing some great looks as they continued swimming through the water at a relatively slow pace.  One of the whales in this pair is a whale that continues to show itself over the past few days.  #0813 is still around.

Fin whale #0813

Our Fin whale pair

Who knows what tomorrow will bring as even we have no idea what to expect but it certainly provides us quite the anticipation of the unknown!

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