Happy opening weekend! Wow. It was quite the start to the 2025 season. The ocean was alive with activity. On Saturday, the birds were out of control. There were thousands of phalaropes, a sprinkling of Wilson's storm petrels, a couple of sooty shearwaters, dark and light morph fulmars, gulls, terns, and even a gannet!
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| Phalaropes (above and below) |
The whales were equally as enjoyable. We started the day with some great looks at a minke whale.
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| Minke whale |
From there we came across a fin whale. These baleen whales are so sleek in their movements.
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| Fin whale |
The day wrapped up with at least 15 humpback whales feeding. Most of the whales were in pairs or trios, but at one point we had a group of five all coordinating their movements in the feeding frenzy that was surrounding us.
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Filtering humpback whale
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| Mouths open by these humpback whales |
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| Group of humpback whales |
Some of the whales we watched included Ase, Mimic, Paddleboard, Waterstrider, Mudskipper, Putter, and Spell. Anywhere you looked the whales were creating bubble clouds, bubble nets, and/or kick-feeding. It was spectacularly stunning.
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| Beautiful bubble net |
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| Snout of a filtering humpback whale |
Our trip on Sunday started with a crew favorite, Spoon the humpback whale! Welcome back to the Jeffreys Ledge area, friend!
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| Spoon! |
Offshore, we checked out a pair of fin whales along with a minke whale.
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| Fin whale |
Once again, we were fortunate enough to end the day with feeding humpback whales; amazing. Today we watched Putter, Lamp, Lavalier, and Pleats create bubble clouds, kick-feed, and filter. Wildlife certainly can be memorizing to watch. Thanks for a great start to another year exploring the Gulf of Maine!
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That's one way to filter out saltwater - whale-yoga-style!
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| Filtering humpback whale |
