Tuesday, August 27

Today's weather was fabulous and it looks like the nice weather is around to stay for awhile.  I cannot believe that Labor Day is right around the corner.  Today's journey started past the Isles of Shoals with 2 different minke whales, and one stayed close by and gave us great looks along both sides of the boat. It was such a nice way to start our trip.

A short while after leaving these 2 minke whales, we passed by a couple of harbor seals and a small pod of harbor porpoise on our way to Jeffrey's Ledge.  We had a couple of other whale watch boats out with us today and only one of the other boats had any luck finding whales, so we decided in the interest of time that we would travel to the Ledge and if necessary go all the way to the backside of the ledge to search for more whales and potential other species.  During our continued travel offshore we came across a few other minke whales

In total, our farthest point from Rye in search of other whale species was over 33 miles and even though we thought we may come up short, it was such a beautiful day that we all didn't mind spending a little extra time out on the water.  Before we ran out of time for searching offshore we came across an Ocean Sunfish.  This sunfish decided to hang out by the stern of our boat for a little while, but I was able to get a few photos as it coasted along the right side before doing so.

We unfortunately ran out of time looking for other whale species and headed for home.  On our travels back to Rye, we came across a larger whale that was traveling through the area and were only able to see it for one surfacing before it disappeared under the water and we unfortunately were not able to relocate it.  We are however about 99% sure that it may have been a rare sighting of a Sei whale!  If so, this is the first Sei whale sighting of the year!  How exciting is this news!!  

We continued on home once again and we were able to see another sunfish and another minke whale before getting back to the dock.  With such great conditions and lots of activity still around we are looking forward to what tomorrow may bring.  A big thank you to all who joined us...2-legged and 4-legged alike!