Wednesday, August 6

This morning we headed back offshore to see if some of the same animals we saw yesterday may still be around. Unfortunately we came up a bit short however, we still got some great looks as we found two Minke whales slowly moving around.

Offshore Minke whale

Perhaps the most interesting sighting was that one of our Minke whales appears to be the mother of a pair was saw back in June (based on the dorsal fin shape)! This whale has been seen a few times over the course of this year and it is fascinating to see how many different locations we are seeing this whale in our area.

Known female (and mom!) Minke whale

While this Minke whale has been seen a few times around Jeffreys Ledge the Ledge itself is 33 miles long and between 5 and 11 miles wide. That is a lot of area for a whale to be seen and that does not include of all the inshore portions of the ocean we transverse over each and every day on our trips. Just like some of the other individuals we see it is great to not only see but document and record all of our sightings as we continue to learn more and more about marine life seen in our area. Such fascinating information! On our way home we also came across a Fin whale, a whale about 3 times larger than that of a Minke whale!

Fin whale

This afternoon we started with a Fin whale that appeared to want nothing to do with us. This whale came up for only a few breaths and was constantly cruising around moving at a pretty good clip. So after a few attempts we decided to continue on and perhaps see if we could find something else spending a bit more time at the surface. It wasn't long before we once again found another Fin whale.

Fin whale spout

Except this time the whale was spending lots of time at the surface. We got some incredible looks as this whale circled around the area.

Bubbles at the surface created by our Fin whale. Definitely not something Fin whales typically are known to do!

Fin whale inside the Isles of Shoals

After such quality time with this wild whale we went further offshore. We ended up seeing a few Minke whales, a couple more Fin whales, and a Harbor seal resting at the surface.

Minke whale beyond Appledore Island

This Harbor seal was taking a nap using the lobster buoy to make sure it didn't drift away while it was resting. Something we have never seen before but is known to be done by these mammals!

Another Minke whale, this time almost on Boon Island Ledge itself

One of the Fin whales we saw this afternoon appears to be a newcomer to the area based on dorsal fin and scars seen on this whale's body. We also found Dylan the Fin whale so close to Boon Island Ledge. We got more great looks at our whales as many of these animals were spending time at the surface circling around.

Dylan the Fin whale

Sometimes whales can be great to get looks at and sometimes they can be a bit more challenging as each animal has it's own agenda during the day and we just capture such a brief moment of time with some incredible mammals. What a nice day with some very nice sightings!