Tuesday, July 19

Each day, each trip, there is an unknown wonder as to what we might find and just what a whale may be doing. The unexpectedness of each day lures us back on the water in hopes of experiencing a brief glimpse into some incredibly elegant and massive mammals. Today was exactly that. This morning we saw 6 Minke whales, 2 Fin whales, a distant look at a breaching Basking shark and 2 Humpback whales. The day started off with some great looks at a couple of Minke whales before traveling along with Fin whale #0354.

One of the first two Minke whales we started our trip with today

Minke whale in the morning ocean

Eventually we headed offshore only to see in the distance a whale. That whale turned into to 2, one of which was being quite active. Turns out we had come across Pinball and her calf!

Always wonderful to find Pinball in our small section of the Gulf of Maine

This pair was last sighted in our area over 3 weeks ago. We are always happy to have a familiar whale return to the area again at any point of the season. While Pinball was busy feeding below the surface we were fortunate enough to watch her calf be quite the wiggly whale! This calf jumped out of the water, or what we call breaching, 16 times (thanks to our Blue Ocean Society intern Ali for documenting each one, down to the second!) on top of all the rolling, flipper slapping and tail slashing it was doing.

White calf flipper high in the air

Pinball's calf breaching!

After checking out this pair we did a little bit more exploring and ended our great morning with yet another Fin whale.

One of the two Fin whales seen this morning

This afternoon we first started with 5 Fin whales around us. Three were initially on the move together before there was some intermingling with some of the other whales in the area before eventually seeing most of them part ways.

Pair of Fin whales at the surface

Not only was one of the coolest parts watching these massive whales swim so close to one another in such gorgeously calm seas, we were able to positively identify every single one of these whales! We spent time with Crow, Pemetic, #0932, #9724 and #0354 at one point or another. It is so great to continue tracking all the whales we see in the Jeffreys Ledge region so we can continue to learn and most importantly protect these mammals for future whale watchers!

Fin whale with Mount Agamenticus in the background

Sleek head and portion of its body of this Fin whale at the surface

Before the day was done we even got a chance to spend time with Pinball and her calf that still remained active during our time with this pair. This afternoon the calf continued to flipper slap and tail breach. Another unexpected exciting day.

More flipper slapping from Pinball's calf this afternoon

Tail breach

What a whale of a day

Monday, July 18

Whales of the day included both Minke whales and Fin whales on each of our trips today. This morning we saw 6 Minke whales and 3 Fin whales. We focused on the Fin whales in the area while Minke whales popped up around us. We had some familiar fins and even a newcomer today. Dingle and #0354 are still in our region.

Dingle the Fin whale

We also found #0518 in our area for the first time this year. What a nice surprise as this whale appeared nearby one of the other Fin whales we were spending some time with this morning.

Fin whale swimming off the coast of New Hampshire

We also ventured further offshore this morning in hopes of relocating a reported whale out on Jeffreys Ledge. Unfortunately, our efforts did not pay off. But without attempting the risk, rarely will you enjoy the rewards. So, while we came up empty-handed this time that will not deter us from searching, looking, and another time finding even more whales in the future. This afternoon we stayed closer to home as we knew the forecast included some weather perhaps making its way over the water. Before the weather hit, and we made our way through the most manageable sections of it, we got a chance to see 3 Minke whales and multiple Fin whales. There were 3 Fin whales in the area but we ended up spending time with both Dingle and #0354, getting some great looks at these massive whales.

Dingle still maneuvering around the area this afternoon

Fin whale #0354

Sunday, July 17

So many massive whales today. And when I say massive, I really mean it! We saw many of the second largest whales on Earth inshore of Jeffreys Ledge today. This morning we found 10 Fin whales including a group of 3 on the move together (Crow, #0354 and Pemetic)!

Two of the three Fin whales seen together this morning

Seeing one of these 60+ ton whales moving through the water is impressive. Putting multiple of these whale together and synchronizing their movements in such an elegant fashion is truly mesmerizing. What a day.

Distant look at two Fin whale spouts this morning

Crow the Fin whale

White lower jaw of a Fin whale

This afternoon was equally as enjoyable as the waves slacked off a bit and we checked out 4 Fin whales including a pair moving around together.

Afternoon Fin whale

Among all the Fin whales we even saw a couple of Minke whales moving through the area on both of our trips. Of the whales we have positively identified we saw Crow, #0354 and #0402 on both the morning and afternoon trips!

Fin whale #0354

Fin whale #0402

 Great looks. Great whales. Great day.

Afternoon pair of Fin whales

Saturday, July 16

This morning we found lots of minke whales and some fin whales only about 12 miles from shore!!  A curious minke whale repeatedly surfaced right alongside the boat! Who says minke whales are elusive?? 

Minke whale

After spending time with a solo fin whale, we came upon a pair of fin whales. These were identified as #0354 and #0403. Interestingly, #0354 was seen yesterday hanging out with Crow. Looks like he is quite the social butterfly!   

Huge fin whale

 As we headed out to the Ledge, we found a humpback whale! This whale was traveling north but we got a few looks at her distinctive flukes. This was a familiar whale named Valley!

This afternoon, we found a minke whale just past the Isles of Shoals. 

Beautiful minke whale

After spending some time with this whale, we headed offshore to Jeffreys Ledge and found a humpback and fin whale in about the same area! The humpback, Hornbill, was blowing bubble clouds and was surfacing with a mouth full of fish and water!  

 At one point, while Hornbill was down, we spotted a mylar balloon close by. We know that debris in the water poses a very real threat to all marine life so we took this opportunity to pick it up and make the whales’ habitat a little be cleaner and safer.    

Hornbill the humpback whale with a red balloon ahead of him

We left Hornbill and went to investigate the fin whale nearby. We got a couple looks at this huge animal but we were out of time and had to head back in.  The bird life is pretty good with Wilson’s Storm Petrels, Cory’s Shearwaters, Great Shearwaters and northern gannets around today!

Friday, July 15

The seas were still a bit rocky this morning as left Rye Habor but soon settled down making for a very nice calm trip. We found a minke whale and fin whale on our way out. The fin whale was one we have been watching since 1997! 

We spotted a blow nearby and went to investigate. A humpback whale was in the area too! This particular humpback, #0050 has been seen frequently lately, so good to know he’s still around! 

We left to explore offshore areas but came up empty so we headed back in to see 0050 one more time.  On our way back to Rye, we found 4 more fin whales (including #0354 and Crow) and another minke! Great morning.

This afternoon, we left the steamy harbor in search of cooler temps, oh, and whales. The North Atlantic had its air conditioning turned up!   Our mate, Ryan spotted our first whale- a humpback named Hornbill! He hasn’t been seen in a few days so great to know he’s still around! Hornbill was searching the area for fish, sometimes staying underwater for 10 minutes! But then he blew a cloud of bubbles and came up in it with his mouth open!  Bluefin tuna were also splashing in the area so there must have been some good feed for both the whale and the fish!

We continued on and found #0050 once again. We got a great look at him as he surfaced really close to us as we were sitting still, awaiting his next breath! Always good to know that we aren’t bothering the whales by our presence.  

 A fin whale was spotted briefly, and on our way home, we passed another humpback whale and a minke whale! Great day and perfect way to beat the heat!

Thursday, July 14

We only had a morning trip today as the winds began to pick up and churn up an already wavy ocean. No worries for the whales however. Regardless of the ocean conditions whales still need to surface for breaths of air. And there was no shortage of whales around today. We started the trip with 2 Fin whales swimming with each other. A quick look at one of these whales lead us to realize it was Dingle spending time with another massive Fin whale.

Dingle the Fin whale

Fin whale soaring through the water

Second Fin whale in the pair

We were able to get some great looks at two of the second largest whales on Earth before moving on to other whale spouts we were seeing. There were two Humpback whales nearby.

Whale tail

And guess who they were? Our 'resident' whales recently. Humpback whales #0050 and Quill are still moseying around.

#0050 diving in towards us

Quill

While watching these whales we also had a few Minke whales pop up during our time offshore today.

Wednesday, July 13

The ocean had a few toothed-whale surprises in store for us today. This morning we checked out a group of Harbor porpoise that were doing donuts around us; an extremely unusual event to get such great looks at these small whales!

A Harbor porpoise. These whales only reach about 5 feet in length!

We headed offshore and then spent time with some continued visitors to the area. Humpback whales #0050 and Quill are still around.

Humpback whale #0050

Our Humpback whales were creating bubble clouds, including this one that appeared right next to the boat!

After some great looks at these whales meandering around we did some more exploring. We ended up finding 4 Minke whales and 3 Fin whales.

Fin whale

You can barely see ANY of this massive Fin whale as it sleekly surfaces for a breath of air!

We even saw one of our Fin whales create a bubble cloud, a feeding mechanism that is known only to be seen regularly by Humpback whales! This afternoon our first sighting of the day were more toothed-whales. Our eagle-eyed captain spotted a group of Atlantic white-sided dolphins, our first sighting of these whales this season! What a phenomenal way to start the trip.

Atlantic white-sided dolphin!

Atlantic white-sided dolphin moving through the windy waves

These whales ended up staying close by, riding down the building waves as we watched them cruise all around us!

Dolphin fins with White Island in the background

Eventually we were on our way and once again got a chance to spend time with Humpback whales #0050 and Quill. A nice ending to our day.

Humpback whale tail

Quill

'Wicked' whale watching this afternoon