Thursday, July 30

This morning we maneuvered around the Jeffreys Ledge area and found 5 Minke whales, a Humpback whale and even a Blue shark over the course of our travels. Our first whale of the day spent so much time at the surface that we continued to move alongside this whale, getting some phenomenal looks, as we moved through the water together.

Minke whale with a very distinctive dorsal fin shape. Fairly certain we have seen this whale in past seasons because of the unique shape of this fin

Another morning Minke whale

After a few other stops on more Minke whales we saw a spout out in the distance. It was Quill still in the area!

Humpback whale tail

This whale was seen yesterday and we enjoyed learning this whale decided to continue to stay around our small section of the massive Gulf of Maine for another day.

Quill

On our way home we also got a quick look at a Blue shark as it swam down the starboard side of the boat.

This afternoon we started with a few Minke whales, seeing 4 in total during the trip, before checking out a whale much larger than that of a Minke whale. It was a Fin whale but, not just a single Fin whale, it was a mother and her calf! The calf however, was meandering around further away as mom circled closer by. We only saw the calf a few times and decided to stick closer to mom as she was being much cooperative at the surface. It was #9709, a whale first seen by our research affiliates, the Blue Ocean Society, in 1997! We got some spectacular looks at mom before heading further offshore.

Fin whale #9709 was circling around all afternoon long

Fin whale spout

Before heading for home we got a few quick looks at a Humpback whale that definitely did not have much of a desire to be watched. This whale surfaced a couple of times, luckily for us close by, before disappearing for the afternoon. It was indeed Quill but looks like this afternoon this wild animal had a different plan than being watched by us humans. Such is the case with wildlife since they decide when and how long they want to be visible.

Humpback whale before disappearing from our view above the waterline today