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Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Tuesday, August 15

The seas were calm and whale sightings a success today. This morning we saw 7 minke whales, 3 humpback whales and a nursery pod of ~50 Atlantic white-sided dolphins.
Faint minke whale spout
Geometry the humpback whale was found swimming around on its own while minke whales were scattered about both before and after the Isles of Shoals.
Geometry
We next found humpback whales Spoon and Jabiru swimming side by side one other in the calm ocean.
Jabiru

A potentially scary moment as these two whales swam VERY close to this fishing gear. Entanglements in fishing gear is a major threat all whales face on a daily basis. This time, all was free and clear.
Our humpback whales were mainly resting at the surface allowing for some beautiful calm looks!
Spoon and Jabiru after slowly passing by the fishing gear and us at the surface
One of our awesome passengers spotted a very special treat at the end of the trip as we were privy to watch a nursery pod of dolphins. A terrific way to wrap up our morning!
Dolphins
Atlantic white-sided dolphin
This afternoon our trip started with a very fast moving minke whale. This whale was speeding through the swells literally porpoising through the ocean!
Minke whale charging through the water
Porpoising minke whale!
We then came across perhaps the same pod of dolphins from this morning but more dolphins had joined in for now this pod looked closer to ~60+ Atlantic white-sided dolphins, still with many babies!
Baby white-sided dolphin!!!
Dolphins swimming by the boat (above and below)

We ended our afternoon trip with the same 3 humpback whales from this morning but this time they were all together! They were on the move a bit but Geometry, Spoon and Jabiru were associated with one another.
Two of the three humpback whales at the surface
Spoon going on a deeper dive
Geometry even breached entirely out of the water at one point! It was such an unexpected moment that unfortunately I did not capture a photo but for the many folks that saw it...wow. So many memorable moments today!

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