What an AMAZING day to be out on the ocean!!! Our morning trip turned out to be a grand slam, which means that we saw each of the 5 most commonly sighted cetacean species in the area during our trip. On our way off shore we sighted many harbor seals and two gray seals. Then we were fortunate to see a small pod of Atlantic White-sided Dolphins. Our next stop was in an area where several Minke whales were feeding. Nearby, we saw a Fin whale come to the surface. The Fin whale was taking very long dives, but we were very lucky that on one of its surfacings it happened to come up right next to our boat! The flat calm sea conditions allowed us to see this gigantic animal through the surface of the water! It was very impressive! As we were leaving the Fin whale, we got a quick glimpse of a blue shark before heading on to an area where there were a few Humpback whales. We were almost out of time at this point, but had time to get a few good looks at Owl and her calf. As we were traveling back towards shore a small pod of Harbor Porpoise passed by us. All in all it was a fantastic trip!
It might sound like that was a tough act to beat, but the whales did not disappoint us this afternoon. As we headed back offshore, we once again saw several seals swimming by the boat. Then we came into an area where Hornbill the Humpback whale was feeding....we even saw the remnants of his bubble clouds coming to the surface. There were two Minke whales circling the area where Hornbill was feeding as well. After leaving those whales, we moved on to an area where we once again saw Owl and her calf. We were very fortunate to have all three of these Humpbacks come up close to our boat and gave us fantastic looks! We even got to see Owl nursing her calf! Just before we left this, a school of Blue fin tuna broke the surface of the water and we were able to see them splashing around at the surface for a minute or so. There was SO much wildlife out in the Gulf of Maine today! It was a truly amazing day!
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