Granite State May 18 and 19

Happy Queen Victoria weekend! Last weekend was opening weekend and this weekend was equally as exciting as it turned out to be a Blue Ocean Adopt-a-Whale kind of weekend! Our sightings on both Saturday and Sunday included Minke whales, Fin whales, and Humpback whales.  On Saturday we started with HWC #0050. This Humpback whale has been seen over the years including last year on Jeffreys Ledge.  

Humpback whale #0050

We also spent some time with Fin whale #0629, Streak. This whale provided quite the sighting as we watched this whale blow a bubble cloud, something only Humpback whales are typically known to do, to help capture their food.

Streak the Fin whale

Humpback whales Pinball, Satula, and Hornbill were also seen on Saturday circling around the same general area. Both Pinball and Satula are Adopt-a-Whale creatures for our affiliated research organization the Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation. All three of these whales are frequent visitors to Jeffreys Ledge so we were excited to see these whales once again this year.

Pinball

Satula

Hornbill

Today we started with a few Fin whales. A couple of these whales were surfacing sporadically but soon we ended up watching pair of Fin whales on the move together. Fin whale #0354 and friend were synchronizing their movements and gave us some incredible looks at two of the second largest animals in the world!

Fin whale #0354

Second Fin whale

We also got the chance to watch a few Humpback whales as well out on the ledge today. Satula was seen again today cruising through the area as well as Hancock before this whale decided to continue further offshore.

Hancock

Perhaps the most exciting find of the day was a mother and her calf pair. Owl was seen with her 2013 calf swimming alongside her today! Owl is quite the favorite on the Granite State, and another Adopt-a-Whale for the Blue Ocean Society, so not only was it fantastic to see her but to have a "little one" in tow put a huge smile on all of our faces.

Owl and her 2013 calf's dorsal fins

Owl

Humpback whales are pregnant for 11 months before giving birth to their young so for anyone who had the opportunity to see Owl last season she was very much pregnant all of last year! What a special surprise for all of us today. We even got a curious approach from Owl's calf as it completely circled the boat before swimming off to go catch up with mom.

Owl's calf swimming circles around the boat!

Weekend #2 was another success. Hopefully #3 will be just the same. Until then!


Please be sure to share the ocean with the whales. If you find yourself out on the water please be sure to keep an extra eye out for whale activity and give them plenty of room to maneuver around. There is lots of ocean out there for boaters and whales a like. Thank you in advance!

 

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