Whales!

One reason we picked Maine for our vacation destination was because I wanted to see whales. I really wanted our whole family to see whales together, but not everyone was thrilled with the idea. Since the trip is long, the tickets are expensive, and the water can be pretty rough, Ron and I decided that I would take a whale watching tour by myself and he would entertain the kids. More on the entertainment in a later post.

I actually scheduled a puffin & whale tour. On our way to the whale feeding grounds, we stopped by Petit Manan Island. That island houses the southernmost nesting Atlantic puffin colony in the US. It was extremely foggy. Here are pictures of the puffins and Petit Manan Island. I used a 300mm telephoto lens and heavily cropped the pictures of the puffin. (Read: we were not very close to the birds!)

Puffin are able to hold on to several fish while continuing to catch more. They somehow hold them against the roof of their mouth, but I forget all the details.

 

There's a lighthouse here somewhere.

Here is a picture once we got to the whale feeding grounds.

 

The fog was so bad. We couldn't really see a thing. They encouraged people to leave and rebook while we were still sitting at the dock, so I guess I should have known. After no luck, we happened across 2 minke whales on the way home. Minke whales are small (for whales), only averaging around 23'. I just wish they didn't look so much like dolphin in my pictures!!

 

 

 

The tour company did not consider seeing 2 whales to be a complete whale watching tour, though, so our tickets became good for another trip of our choice, for free. Ron assured me he could entertain the kids again, so I rescheduled and tried again. Although the whales didn't perform as I had hoped, that was a much better experience. I did the whale watch only tour. Here are some picture from that day.

Endangered fin whales
They are the 2nd largest animal in the world, growing to almost 90'!
You'd think being that large they could manage to show me a little more of themselves.

I think this is a humpback whale "blow".



This is part of the jaw of a fin whale...I think.

The blowhole functions as the whale's nostrils. The "blow" is the animal exhaling, not spouting water, although his breath does condense and form water vapors as it is expelled. Different types of whales have different blows and can be identified by their blow shape from far away.



Humpback whale. The lighter blue right next to him is his fin under the surface of the water.

Humpback whale fluke



This is Triton's fluke. He was first identified in the 70s.
The scars on his tail are from killer whale attacks at some point in his life.

Fin whales



I like the barnacles on this one's tail.



A gray seal

If I ever have the opportunity, I would like to take another whale tour. They are fascinating animals, and I really would have liked to have seen more of them out of the water! I am thankful I had the opportunity to go...twice.