Thursday morning began with glassy seas and a bit of a swell. We made our way out towards Jeffreys Ledge and began our trip with a pod of around 25 Atlantic White-sided dolphins!
White-sided dolphins
We hung out with this very mellow group of Lags (Lag being an abbreviation of their scientific name) for a good while before we pressed on further out towards a distant whale that we had been keeping tabs on. This turned out to be Pinball the humpback whale.
Pinball diving
After spending time with Pinball, we pressed further offshore towards another whale that we had seen, but stopping short to get looks at a basking shark that was passing by.
Basking shark at surface
Continuing along, we were able to spend some time with Spoon the humpback whale, as well as getting brief looks at a fin whale as it passed through the area.
Spoon diving
As we made our way back towards home, we were able to spend a bit of time with a whale that I wasn't able to identify at the time, but was later able to identify as a whale known as Sigma. Definitely an amazing way to start our sightings for the day!
Thursday afternoon, we started our sightings with the exact whale we ended with during our morning trip, Sigma.
Sigma, the humpback whale
We spent a good amount of time with this whale as it switched its behavior from sleeping to feeding, before moving along to see who else was spending some time in the area. We got brief looks at a minke whale as we moved into an area with three different humpback whales. In a stroke of wild coincidence, the three humpback whales that were in this area, were all of our adoptable whales through the Blue Ocean Society; Pinball, Owl, and Satula.
Owl diving in the distance
Definitely a surprise for us seeing Owl this afternoon, as the last time she was seen was less than two weeks ago up in Bar Harbor, Maine!
Satula diving
We were able to get some amazing last looks at Satula as he surface near the boat several times before we started our journey back towards Rye Harbor.
Friday morning began with a single humpback whale, Ravine, before our sightings really began to ramp up.
Ravine diving
After leaving Ravine, we were able to get looks at two more humpback whales swimming nearby, Clamp and Pitcher. Just a short distance away we could see more activity so we began to investigate. After moving into this area and idling at the surface, we had a distant fin whale and minke whale on our left, as well as a humpback whale out to our right. In addition to this, out in front of us there was some distant splashing which turned out to be a pod of around 30 Atlantic white-sided dolphins. These dolphins were spending time near another humpback whale, Patches, as he was resting near the surface. These dolphins moved on from Patches and turned their attention towards another animal near the surface. We watched as they approached a basking shark, seemingly nipping at its tail fin, spooking it for a minute before it returned back up to the surface.
Basking shark
White-sided dolphins
After continuing along, we returned to a humpback whale we had quick looks at earlier, a whale named Sigma, before pressing further and seeing another humpback, Valley. By this time we really needed to make our way back towards Rye. On our journey in, we saw a distant bubble cloud at the surface before seeing a humpback lunge up through it, so we traveled over to get some quick looks.
Patches lunge feeding
We got incredible looks as this whale came up to the surface with its mouth wide open capturing small schooling fish as we then continued back towards home.
Friday afternoon saw a bit of a breeze up in sea conditions, but by no means did that mean there were going to be fewer whales. One of the few ways that I have found to describe trips like this is to say we are spending time in "whale soup". Once we made our way offshore, It was hard to stare off into the distance and not see a whale at the surface. There were spouts rising up every which way, so we tried our best to document as many as the individuals as possible spending time in this area. We began our trip with a humpback right off of either side of the boat, Valley and Patches.
Valley diving
Patches surface feeding
After leaving our first two whales, we were also able to get looks at several more humpbacks, including; Clamp, Chromosome, Ravine, Sigma, and Spoon. All the while, we got quick looks at four distant fin whales traveling through the area. After getting a sense of who was spending time in the area, we were able to get excellent looks at Clamp as she was displaying a behavior known as "kick-feeding" near the surface.
Clamp feeding at surface
After leaving Clamp, we spent a bit more time with Patches before we had to turn for home. On the return trip, we had a lot of splashing near the surface that was rapidly moving in our direction. This turned out to be a pod of around 25 Atlantic white-sided dolphins.
White-sided dolphins (tiny calf!)
There were several small calves in this pod, giving us an extra special way to wrap up our sightings!
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