Tuesday, July 14

This morning we left the harbor in thick fog and were excited once we broke out of it a few miles past the Isles of Shoals. During our trip we saw at least 4 Minke whales scooting around the area. A few of them were spending a good amount of time at the surface and were lucky to get some very nice looks at a few of them moving around the boat.

You can see this Minke whale's mittens (the light patch just below the waterline on the left side of the photo) as this whale swims alongside us

Another Minke whale

Soon we saw a spout and then another. We had two Fin whales nearby. We made our way into the area only to be unable to find either one of them again. We waited, searched around for a while and yet still no luck. We eventually decided to press on and only then were we in lucky once again. Another Fin whale was traveling through the area. This whale was definitely on the move but we got some great looks.

Fin whale

This afternoon we left with some raindrops falling from the sky but soon enough the sun started to peak through the clouds and we could soak in some afternoon rays as we searched for some whale activity. We started with a group of 8-10 Atlantic white-sided dolphins. What a great surprise!

Splash from one of our dolphins moving through the ocean waves

We pressed on to search for more life including passing through areas where we had seen whales just this morning. Unfortunately we came up empty-handed. We searched and search but could find no signs of more whale-life. While we were unable to find any more whales we did stop by Boon Island on our travels home and checked out LOTS of harbor seals basking in the sun!

So many seals hauled out on the rocks!

Sunshine and seals: a great combination