20-25 HUMPBACK WHALES, 11 FIN WHALES and 2 MINKE WHALES seen on Sunday, June 1, 2008

On this afternoon's whale watch we sighted 20-25 HUMPBACK WHALES (including 4 mother and calf pairs) within 16 miles of Gloucester Harbor.Most of these whales were surface feeding...often in groups of 4 or 5 whales working together to blow huge rings of bubbles around schools of fish in an effort to confuse and concentrate the fish and thus make feeding more efficient (a really impressive thing to see!).The highlight of today's whale watch trip for many people, however, was when the calf of a Humpback whale called "firefly" breached twice right along side our boat!Other whale species were also sighted.I estimate that there was a MINIMUM of 11 FIN WHALES in the area (including "the" group of 3 Fin Whales that have been traveling together for over a week now).2 MINKE WHALES were also sighted.