Thursday morning's whale watch began with a pair of humpback whales, Grommet and Valley. As we watched these whales, we could see distant spouts that we eventually moved to go investigate.
Pair of humpbacks
Humpback diving
Humpback with dolphins
After pressing on, we got quick looks at an ocean sunfish before seeing a very active humpback out in the distance. This turned out to be Pinball doing a whole lot of flipper slapping at the surface! We got some amazing looks at this whale before finally turning back towards Rye. On our journey in, we also passed by several more humpbacks, including Thistle, Stance, Detritus, and Bayou.
Pinball flipper slapping
Thursday afternoon started off in an exciting way! We first happened upon a single humpback whale, Detritus, before getting eyes on a very splashy humpback out in the distance. As we got closer, this whale, Patches, began breaching, flipper slapping, and tail breaching for an extended period of time.
Humpback flipper
Breach!
After getting to spend some amazing time with Patches, we moved just a bit further offshore. Once we did, we were able to turn our engines off and watch as we were surrounded by humpback whales. These whales included Satula, Pinball, Spika, Chromosome, Spoon and Clamp! We were also able to get a couple of quick glimpses at two different minke whales passing through.
Trio of humpback whales
Humpback diving
Friday morning was glassy calm and beautiful! Our trip got off to a quick start as we were able to get some quick looks at an ocean sunfish.
Ocean sunfish
Not long after that we came upon our first pair of humpback whales, Grommet and Chromosome. Both of these whales were fairly mellow as they travelled at the surface. Out in the distance we could see more whale activity very close to the Isles of Shoals. Once there, we spent time with two more humpbacks, Detritus and Thistle, before they were also joined by Grommet and Chromosome who decided to do some surface feeding near the islands.
Pair of humpbacks
Once we left our whales behind at the islands, we pressed further offshore until we came across another large gathering of humpback whales. These whales consisted of Pinball, Alligator, Zodiac, Satula, Cacophony, and Stance. Eventually it was time to head home. On our way in we passed a trio of sleepy humpbacks, Clamp, Spoon, and Patches. Even closer to home we were stopped yet again by a very surface active humpback. This whale continuously flipper slapping, as well as breaching and tail lobbing. Such an incredible way to end an amazing morning!
Flipper slapping humpback
Friday afternoon's whale watch is very difficult to justify with words. It is not often that our afternoon trips have glassy calm sea conditions, but we were fortunate enough to have as much as we ventured offshore. We first happened upon a travelling trio of humpbacks, Grommet, Chromosome, and Thistle.
Chromosome tail breaching
These whales were making good pace as they travelled towards the east. As we were tracking with them. Captain Jonathan noticed something out off of our starboard side. After confirming it was exactly what we were hoping it was, we moved off in that direction. As we slowly approached, we were able to get some incredible looks at this LEATHERBACK SEA TURTLE!!!
BEAUTIFUL TURTLE
What an absolute privilege it was for us to happen upon this turtle! It had been two years since we had seen a sea turtle aboard the Granite State, so our crew is ALWAYS on the hunt for them when we have conditions as nice as we did this afternoon. Unfortunately, this turtle decided to stay down in the depths after our first few minutes with it, but a truly unforgettable encounter for both crew and passengers alike. Now, you might be thinking the trip couldn't get much better after that, but you would be wrong. We spent almost the next two hours sitting idle with our engines off as we were completely surrounded by a wide variety of marine life. To give you the "play-by-play" would be like writing a novel, so I'll sum it up as best I can. The vast majority of the animals we had surrounding us were humpback whales, including Fan, Valley, Orion, Clamp, Zodiac, Spika, Spoon, Stance, Patches, Satula, Cacophony, and several more that we never had the time to make it to. At any point during the evening, these whales were either sleeping, flipper slapping, or surface feeding. We had a pod of white-sided dolphins move through the area, as well as several harbor seals, a grey seal, and a couple of ocean sunfish.
Sunfish chasing shearwaters
Surface feeding humpback
Fan diving
We really never know what is awaiting us anytime we leave the harbor. The density and diversity of life that we encountered this trip was staggering, but more than that, humbling. Gatherings such as these have everything to do with the abundance of food beneath the surface for these animals. This trip will almost certainly have a special place in all our hearts for the years to come.
