Saturday July 20

We were eager to head out to Jeffreys Ledge this morning knowing we had had such good luck with whales the previous afternoon offshore. Little did we know we were in for a bit of a surprise. A good swell, random wind pockets, and some big-time haze welcomed us as we got out to Jeffreys this morning. We searched, and searched, and searched as much as time would allow. Unfortunately we came up empty-handed as far as any offshore whale sightings went. The worst part was, after travelling all that way this morning and dealing with the unexpected conditions offshore all of us were still incredibly confident something was out there. Perhaps it is our eternal optimism, or maybe we have spent too much time inhaling the ocean air, but there was a moment where we actually stopped and contemplated going back offshore this afternoon to search and search some more. What stopped us? The random clouds that looked to be looming over land. So instead we opted for a different plan and started inshore where we had seen a Minke whale this morning.

Minke whale from our morning trip

During our travels to that area this afternoon we actually ended up stopping short for a different Minke whale was even more inshore. As we attempted to keep up with this whale's ever changing directions we realized there were actually 2 Minke whales in the area. 

One of our afternoon Minke whales not at all affected by the rain falling from the sky

We ended up staying in this area for a bit because a good storm cloud was passing to our south. Since we were right on the edge of this cloud we just all ended up a good fresh water rinse which really wasn't all that bad considering the hot temperatures we had just left back on land.

Summer storm cloud passing south of us

After the cloud passed we were left with sunny skies and super calm ocean conditions. How nice! We ended up seeing 4 Minke whales in total this afternoon.

Calms seas helped to get some great looks at this Minke whale this afternoon

Many thanks to all of our eagle-eyed passengers today who did a great job not only searching the ocean for signs of whale life but also spotting and re-spotting many of our Minke whales!