Beautiful ocean conditions made witnessing marine life that much more enjoyable on both of our trips today. This morning our first stop was on a pod of ~100 Atlantic white-sided dolphins just beyond the Isles of Shoals.
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| Atlantic white-sided dolphins |
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| Dolphins just outside of Duck Island |
These whales were being followed by a large grouping of sea birds, mostly Northern Gannets, assessing the situation from above read to react to any fish that caught their eye. Eventually, we pressed on offshore and, thanks to our fishing friends(!), came across 3 fin whales.
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| Fin whale |
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| You can see some of this fin whale's white lower jaw |
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| Fin whale chevron pattern |
These whales were all circling around the area. Two of these whales even became associated with each other as we watched these enormous creatures maneuver around.
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| Pair of fin whales at the surface |
This afternoon we spotted 2 ocean sunfish and a large pod of dolphins once again! This pod of ~100 Atlantic white-sided dolphins were slowly on the move.
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| Afternoon dolphin sighting |
After a bit more searching we headed to a pair of humpback whales that were nearby. This pair was a mother/calf pair and a new pair to our area for the season. Springboard and calf were swimming around. What a fun surprise!
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| Humpback tail |
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| Springboard and her calf |
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| Springboard's calf's tail! |
After some nice looks at these whales we found our same group of dolphins before heading back toward home. It was another fun-filled day of whales in the Gulf of Maine.
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