There was a bit of excitement in the air as we headed out of Rye
Harbor today. The skies were clear and the wind was minimal making for
great conditions to spot whales. The trip was a success as we headed
for home after spotting and spending time with just about all of the 4
Minkes, 8 Fin whales, 5 Humpback whales, and 1 Basking shark we saw
today.
While we saw lots of Fin whales throughout our
travels today it was the trio of Fin whales that probably stole the
show. All three whales remained associated with each other the entire
time we watched them synchronizing their activities. Surfacing together
and going on deeper dives together these animals had quite the
choreographed movements about them. A few times we had this group just
alongside the boat making it quite impressive to see 3 of the second
largest animals in the world cruising along.
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The interesting blotch on this whale helps to distinguish it from the other two whales of the group
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| A bright whale lower jaw and the chevron patterns of these two Fin whales |
On top of the fact that we had three of these mammals
together, we were equally excited to learn one of these whales was a
well known visitor, and yet another Adopt-a-Whale(!!!), to Jeffreys Ledge. Low and behold we had Ladder the
Fin whale.
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| Ladder
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While this is the first time during the 2012 season to
come across Ladder we really should not have been surprised to see one
of the trio be this specific whale. Fin whales tend to be solitary in
their movements so typically we see these animals on their own during
our whale watches. Every now and then a couple, or few, Fin whales may
join together for a time being, but more often than not a Fin whale will
maneuver through the water on its own. Over the years though this does
not appear to be the case for one particular Fin whale: Ladder. Ladder
has a tendency to be seen almost ALWAYS associated with at least one
other Fin whale. Thanks to the Blue Ocean Society who has been tracking Fin whales on
Jeffreys Ledge for the past 10 years it is amazing to look back and see just how often this animal
appears to enjoy moving through the water with a friend!
With a whale friend or not we are happy to see Ladder back again for
another season!
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| Ladder and friend going on a dive |
Through the Fin whale movement, and Minke
whales popping up almost every time we stopped to watch whales, we also
got a chance to see another species, a few Humpback whales. Turns out we
ended up spending time with a solitary Humpback whale along with two
mother/calf pairs. Our first Humpback whale of the day was Pregunta.
This whale spent a lot of time zigging and zagging around the area.
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| Pregunta the Humpback whale |
As for our pairs we spent time with Pinball and calf,
and Clamp and calf today. We saw Pinball yesterday but it has been a
couple of weeks since we last saw Clamp and her calf, all of which were
in different portions of Jeffreys Ledge from their previous sightings.
Both calves were being active. Pinball's calf was doing tight circles,
surfacing with its mouth open, and even keeping us hostage for a few
minutes as this whale decided to hang out right next to the boat!
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| Pinball |
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| Pinball's calf poking its head out with its mouth open |
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| Pinball's calf deciding to show us its unique black and white pattern |
Clamp's calf on the other hand did a few tail
slashes, rolled upside-down a few times, appeared to be nursing, and
then decided to take a quick nap! Lots of behaviors and lots of great
looks at both pairs of whales.
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| Clamp and her calf |
On our way home we even saw one other
species of marine life. It was a Basking shark. This large fish at one
point decided to come directly in towards the boat. I guess when you
are the second largest shark in the ocean maybe you do not get scared by
much!
Many thanks to our eager passengers as everyone
was doing a great job spotting so many whales! We'll see what tomorrow
has in store for us as we look forward to heading back out in the
morning.
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