The conditions were beautiful as we spent time on the water on Saturday. Both trips provided minimal wind and calm seas for searching, and finding, wildlife. On Saturday morning we came across a pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins. These toothed whales were cruising through the water!
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| Atlantic white-sided dolphin |
Further offshore, we saw at least nine different fin whales. Some we passed as we made our way to Jeffreys Ledge. Others were constantly changing direction, being sighted around the boat.
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| Fin whales are so large! |
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| Fin whale |
We also spent time with a humpback whale. Two other humpback whales were around, but they were being elusive in their movements.
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| Humpback whale tail |
While heading for home we passed by a couple more pods of dolphins. On Saturday afternoon, barely a mile from the harbor we checked out an ocean sunfish!
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| Ocean sunfish |
My sincerest apologies to a couple on the morning trip who was
soooo interested in seeing an ocean sunfish (next time!). Offshore we passed by another ocean sunfish, before spending time with two different fin whales.
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Fin whale
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| Diving fin whale |
We also saw a small pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins. The day wrapped up with a humpback whale named New Jersey!
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| Distant dolphins |
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| Humpback whale diving |
Sunday's weather was just as stunning as Saturday's. Calm seas can be a perfect backdrop for spotting all sorts of marine life, and that's exactly what happened. On our morning trip, we started the day with a fin whale followed by an ocean sunfish.
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| Fin whale |
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| Ocean sunfish |
We then watched two humpback whales, Mostaza and Limpet. These whales were being pretty mellow, as Mostaza was seen napping most of the time at the surface.
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| Humpback whales |
Not far from these whales were a pod of toothed whales. However, once we got closer, we realized it was a mixed pod consisting of mostly Atlantic white-sided dolphins and a handful of Common dolphins! Wow.
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| Common dolphin |
The sighting became even more impressive when the dolphins and the humpback whales became associated with each other.
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| Humpback whale surrounded by dolphins |
All this action, and we weren't done yet. During our travels home we sighted a smooth hammerhead shark. MIND BLOWN.
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| Oh my gosh, a hammerhead shark!! |
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| Hammerhead |
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| Hammerhead (again!) |
Hammerhead sharks are not a type of shark typically sighted in our area; they prefer warmer water. None of us on the crew has ever seen one here in the Gulf of Maine. Insane. To add a few more sprinkles to our already unbelievable sightings, we got a quick glimpse of a Kemp's Ridley sea turtle and a blue shark.
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Turtle shell
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| Turtle! |
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| Blue shark |
On Sunday afternoon more fun marine life continued. Our first stop was on a basking shark. These sharks are the second-largest sharks in the world and are awesome to check out.
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| Basking shark dorsal fin |
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| Basking shark |
We also saw two fin whales swimming around while we checked out a pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins. Actually, we saw at least three different pods of dolphins during our time offshore!
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Dolphin
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| Dolphin returning from a sky-high jump in the air! |
Sightings wrapped up as we spent time with two different humpback whales, New Jersey and Limpet. Marine life sure has a way of taking our breath away, and today was one of those days.
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