Tuesday, July 19

Each day, each trip, there is an unknown wonder as to what we might find and just what a whale may be doing. The unexpectedness of each day lures us back on the water in hopes of experiencing a brief glimpse into some incredibly elegant and massive mammals. Today was exactly that. This morning we saw 6 Minke whales, 2 Fin whales, a distant look at a breaching Basking shark and 2 Humpback whales. The day started off with some great looks at a couple of Minke whales before traveling along with Fin whale #0354.

One of the first two Minke whales we started our trip with today

Minke whale in the morning ocean

Eventually we headed offshore only to see in the distance a whale. That whale turned into to 2, one of which was being quite active. Turns out we had come across Pinball and her calf!

Always wonderful to find Pinball in our small section of the Gulf of Maine

This pair was last sighted in our area over 3 weeks ago. We are always happy to have a familiar whale return to the area again at any point of the season. While Pinball was busy feeding below the surface we were fortunate enough to watch her calf be quite the wiggly whale! This calf jumped out of the water, or what we call breaching, 16 times (thanks to our Blue Ocean Society intern Ali for documenting each one, down to the second!) on top of all the rolling, flipper slapping and tail slashing it was doing.

White calf flipper high in the air

Pinball's calf breaching!

After checking out this pair we did a little bit more exploring and ended our great morning with yet another Fin whale.

One of the two Fin whales seen this morning

This afternoon we first started with 5 Fin whales around us. Three were initially on the move together before there was some intermingling with some of the other whales in the area before eventually seeing most of them part ways.

Pair of Fin whales at the surface

Not only was one of the coolest parts watching these massive whales swim so close to one another in such gorgeously calm seas, we were able to positively identify every single one of these whales! We spent time with Crow, Pemetic, #0932, #9724 and #0354 at one point or another. It is so great to continue tracking all the whales we see in the Jeffreys Ledge region so we can continue to learn and most importantly protect these mammals for future whale watchers!

Fin whale with Mount Agamenticus in the background

Sleek head and portion of its body of this Fin whale at the surface

Before the day was done we even got a chance to spend time with Pinball and her calf that still remained active during our time with this pair. This afternoon the calf continued to flipper slap and tail breach. Another unexpected exciting day.

More flipper slapping from Pinball's calf this afternoon

Tail breach

What a whale of a day