The past few days have been showing us quite the range of what the Gulf of Maine can offer as far as weather conditions and marine life! Sunday's morning trip took us over 30 miles SE to Stellwagen Bank, where we found one, maybe two minke whales. Although we got a couple decent looks, this whale(s) was on a mission which didn't include being watched by us!
Sunday's afternoon trip was a bit more active with several minke whales inshore, near Jeffreys Ldege, as well as a couple pods of Atlantic white sided dolphins!! The minkes were great, and the dolphins were, well, busy. We had a hard time getting close looks at them as they seemed more interested in chasing fish than visiting with our boat.
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| minke whale |
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| minke whale |
But the pelagic birds were the star (in my opinion) of the day! Check out these images of a Northern Gannet taking off near our bow!
Also on the way back in from our afternoon trip, we saw some more of what Mother Nature had to offer back on land! The storms that passed by were quite impressive to watch, and by shear luck, we missed them and stayed dry!
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| Storm over Ipswich/Newburyport |
Monday's trip was a bit rough....literally. The winds were stronger than predicted and the seas were pretty steep offshore. We decided to keep the ride as smooth as we could by heading north, along the coast, to an area between the Isles of Shoals and Boon Island where we have seen whales recently. Unfortunately, even with the cooperation of other whale watch boats in the area, the whales didn't show themselves. The wind and sea conditions were not helping us at all in our search! We ended up heading home, with our tail between our legs and no whales to show for our efforts. Our course home took us through the Isles of Shoals and we did get some great viewings at some marine mammals- seals!! One of the rocks near Duck Island was covered in harbor seals and we had a curious grey seal pop us close to us too!
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| Grey Seal |
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| Harbor and Grey Seals hauled out near Duck Island |
We are back out tomorrow and can't wait to see what is waiting for us!
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