The offshore conditions on Thursday morning were not as forecasted and that became very apparent as we passed by the Isles of Shoals and proceeded to get pummeled by gusting wind and increasing chop and swell. We quickly made the decision to turn back towards home along with a brief tour of the islands. We are always at the will of the ocean on our trips and safety/fun are our top priorities, neither of which were likely to be achieved by continuing that trip. The decision was also made to cancel the afternoon, so now we would wait to see if Friday would stick to its forecast.
I am happy to report that Friday morning most definitely delivered on its forecast and we made our way offshore with beautiful, glassy calm see conditions. Our trip began with absolutely incredible looks at a fin whale. With the calm seas, we could see the entire length of this whale just beneath the surface!
Fin whale diving
My day had already been made, but we were nowhere near being done with this whale watch. We continued further offshore, coming across three different humpback whales Quote, Cupid, and Clamp, all in close proximity. This was a very exciting encounter for our crew, knowing that Clamp is actually the mother of Cupid, who was born back in 2016. Baleen whales, in general, are not known for travelling in family groups, so it is very unlikely that these whales were purposely in proximity to one another. However, we are left wondering if these two knew of each others presence (so many questions we may never get the answer for!!!). As we watched our original three humpbacks, several minke whales were being seen out in the distance, before we were joined by another pair of humpback whales, Tripod and Chromosome.
Minke whale diving
Humpback pair travelling
We began slowly making our way through the area, getting brief looks at another fin whale, while Clamp, Tripod and Chromosome were all moving in the same direction as our boat. Our goal was to try and document a sixth humpback in the area (very limited success on that front), before starting our journey for home. Along the way, we had one more stop to make.
Basking shark
We were able to get incredible looks at a basking shark travelling near the surface, before ultimately, continuing on back towards Rye. A truly, truly incredible start to our day!
Surface conditions were just as beautiful Friday afternoon as it was in the morning. We were headed back out to where we had found success in the morning, and were quickly met with a familiar fluke, Clamp! This whale was doing a whole lot of travelling, never going on a deeper dive, but still giving us great looks at the underside of her tail.
Clamp's signature tail flick
We eventually pressed on to do some more searching, before coming across Quote the humpback. Quote was very busy circling around the area, blowing lots of bubble clouds before coming up to the surface, filtering out lots of saltwater. It was easy to see why, as we stared down beneath the surface, getting to see hundreds upon thousands of menhaden (a small schooling fish) swimming by. We said goodbye to Quote, but didn't have to wait long before our next sighting, a basking shark.
Quote diving
Basking shark
We spent a lot of time searching before we had to start making our way back towards Rye. Along the way, we were able to reconnect with Clamp for a short while. We thought that would be it for sightings, but saw another distant blow on our way in. As we got closer, this was revealed to be the very same fin whale that we had started our morning with, distinguishable by its unique dorsal fin.
Fin whale diving
Such a beautiful day full of whales and sharks! Both of our trips on Saturday have been cancelled due to rough seas, so our fingers are crossed for an improved forecast on Sunday.
No comments:
Post a Comment