Monday, June 22

Having not ventured offshore yesterday due to the weather, we were interested to see where and what we may find during our travels today. We started with a few elusive Minke whales but eventually our patience paid off as we got some incredible looks at one of the 4 Minke whales we spotted this morning.

Great looks as this Minke whale spent so much time swimming alongside us

Thanks to so many eyes on the water (not just on our boat but fishing boats are also kind enough to pass along any whale sightings they have to us!) we got a chance to end our trip with Sedge the Humpback whale.

Sedge

Sedge's "big wings"

Always glad to see whales spending so much time in our small part of the Gulf of Maine.

This afternoon we were off in a different direction with word of more whales spending time on Jeffreys Ledge. In total we saw 4 Fin whales and 5 Minke whales. Our first stop was a pair of Fin whales but it was a special pair; a mother and her calf!

Fin whale calf

These two whales were just circling around the area as we watched the calf move all around us as we can only guess mom was off in the depths of the ocean to do some feeding herself. To make things even more special we quickly recognized mom. It was Comet!!!! We saw this Fin whale A LOT last season and now know she was pregnant the whole time she was on Jeffreys Ledge last year. What a cool find as we got some incredible looks at these two whales.

Comet (right) and her calf just barely visible in the photo (left) as they swam so close I couldn't capture them both with my large lens!

Nothing is more adorable than a "small" calf swimming so close to its mom

Further offshore we got to check out two more Fin whales moving about.

Fin whale #3 for the afternoon

Fin whale spout

Fin whale #4

A beautiful day with some super exciting finds and even though we will not be out there tomorrow (the forecast has A LOT of wind coming!) we will eagerly wait to get back out and see where and what we may find again out on Jeffreys Ledge.