September 13 Granite State

While fog blanketed the harbor all day today we were lucky enough to find out the fog didn't last long for we were surrounded by the sun, no wind, and plenty of marine life out on Jeffreys Ledge today. We managed to record 8 Minke whales, 9 Harbor seals, and lots of Harbor porpoise throughout our travels today. 

A rare opportunity to capture a couple of Harbor porpoise we passed on our trip today

This Minke whales has such a distinctive dorsal fin we can match it up to being the same whale we saw just earlier this week!

While we did get a few nice looks at a couple of these different types of mammals we were also fortunate enough to get some even better looks at other types of whales today. Perhaps the photograph below helps to explain all of our sightings today:

Check out this sample of animal plankton caught while we were watching whales on Jeffreys Ledge today. All that food is a great way to bring in more food...schooling fish for the whales!

Two Humpback whales were lazily moving around the ocean today. And do you want to know who they were? Well, Patches and Victim of course! Another day and not only were these two whales still on Jeffreys Ledge, they were still seen side by side, AND once again both of these whales were napping at the surface! A few times these whales ended up turning into, and surfacing so close, to the boat that we were all able to get some incredible looks at these marine mammals.

Victim and Patches right alongside the boat!

Victim diving just past our passengers

And not to worry, any time they (or any other whale) moved in our direction or came up close by, we would shut off our engines and just float on the surface while the whales moseyed on by. Another great day spending time with these two, for now, lazy whales. 

Such a serene view: a beautiful ocean and a lazy whale. Perfection.

With everything we were able to get looks at today we also had one last surprise for on our ride home our trusty crew saw some dolphins near by. A pod of 20 Atlantic white-sided dolphins were darting around the area. 

Dolphins at the surface

While these whales clearly had other things on their mind (only spending a few minutes at the surface) we were able to get some great looks at these toothed-whales.

A nice look as to how these dolphins got their name; Atlantic white-sided dolphins!

The dolphins were even seen coasting down the swells a few times

Since these, and all the other whales we encounter during our trips, are wild animals there is no guarantee you will/can get nice looks at them. The whales have their own agenda and sometimes are moving through an area with such speed it can be quite tricky to catch a glimpse at something we might see. No training, and especially no feeding, occurs when we are out on the open ocean. It is the decisions of the whales if they allow us to see them in action. It is because of this never-ending, completely unexpected, behaviors that makes our time out with such incredible wildlife that much more appealing. And today was once again proof of just that.

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