Monday's weather could not have been more beautiful. Glass-like conditions added to the sight-ability and awe of each sighting. The day started with a nursery pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins. This group of 60-70 toothed whales were milling around and you couldn't get enough of the calves! They were so tiny, so wiggly, and so stunning to watch move through the water. It was hard to leave!
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| Atlantic white-sided dolphin |
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| Two dolphin calves checking out the world above the surface of the ocean! |
Further offshore we saw two minke whales, five basking sharks (though most of them sank almost as quickly as we spotted them), an ocean sunfish, two fin whales, and possibly the same pod of dolphins during our travels home. There was so much to look at and enjoy!
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Minke whale
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Ocean sunfish
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Fin whale
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| More dolphins |
Monday's afternoon trip had its own special surprises. Along our travels, we saw multiple fin whales (six in total), six humpback whales (including Diablo, Footfall, and Satula), a couple of basking sharks, and a BLUE WHALE!!!
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Humpback whale
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| BLUE WHALE |
This blue whale is likely the same blue whale that we have been sporadically sighting this past week. Wow.
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| Blue whale (above and below) |
Oh, and the sightings weren't over yet. While watching the blue whale a pod of dolphins could be seen in the distance. However, these dolphins were not our usual culprits. A pod of Common dolphins was passing by!
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| Our Common dolphins were ACTIVE! (above and below) |
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| Common dolphin |
These toothed whales are not "common" sightings for us so add that into the mix of our larger whales AND the blue whale = CRAZY. We even passed by a pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins before returning to the harbor. What a day.
Tuesday's whale watching was full of baleen whales. On our morning trip, we were surrounded by spouts. Both humpback whales and fin whales were darting around in every direction passing by us, and each other, with such grace.
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| Humpback whale |
In total, we saw four fin whales and nine humpback whales, with more spouts out in the distance. Some of our morning humpback whales included Pharos, Buzzard, and Agent.
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| Diving humpback whale |
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| Feeding humpback whale |
On our way back out to Jeffreys Ledge on Tuesday afternoon we stopped for a quick look at a minke whale and a pair of fin whales (we saw three fin whales in total) before making our way to the same area we had been in the morning. This time we checked out eight humpback whales, all in pairs. Individuals included Chromosome, Pharos, Whirlwind, Joy, Quote, and Agent!
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