Today’s adventures took us towards Jeffreys Ledge again
where we found a basking shark not far past the Isles of Shoals! Unfortunately, this shark was a little shy
and hid beneath the surface right after we pointed it out. But a few lucky
folks on the bow definitely saw it! Basking sharks (the 2nd largest
fish in the ocean) have been fairly common so far this year.
As we headed out further, we came upon a minke whale. In
total, we saw 4 different minke whales today but they all seemed to have the
same agenda- elusive. Often we get amazing looks at minkes and can even tell
them apart, but no such luck today.
Next up was a very nice fin whale (2nd largest species of
whale in the world). After a couple of looks at this cooperative creature, we
identified it as #9724 in Blue Ocean Society’s catalog.
This whale was seen the
other day as well! #9724 was first documented by researchers in 1986! I wonder
how old he is. (Also, this whale has never been seen with a calf so we
ignorantly assume it’s a male.)
#9724
also let us know that he has been feeding on a whole lot of herring or mackerel
by leaving a huge brown cloud, almost the size of our boat, behind him! When
you gotta go, you gotta go!!
For fans of the TV show Wicked Tuna, we saw tuna boat Pin Wheel anchored up in an attempt to
catch a bluefin tuna!
We continued our search and came upon a second fin whale as
well as a couple of the other minkes. As wild animals are wild, they don’t
always cooperate with us. This fin whale was showing us just how amazing they
are at holding their breath and traveling quickly. Soon it was time to head for home and soon
after we thought we left the 2nd fin whale, we spotted it again briefly
ahead of us.
I also want to thank our special guests from New England
Coastal Wildlife Alliance for helping out with data collection and being
available on deck to teach our guests a bit more about our wonderful Gulf of
Maine inhabitants!
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