August 24-25, 2026

While August may be winding down, marine life sightings in the Jeffreys Ledge area continue to be plentiful. The start of another week was totally turtle-ly awesome. 😁 On Monday morning, we spent time with four humpback whales darting around us. 

Humpback whale spout

Diving humpback whale

The whales constantly changed directions, occasionally making bubble clouds and giving our heads plenty of turns as they surfaced and even breached a couple of times. Identified whales included Zodiac, Satula, and Dross. We also saw an ocean sunfish and a leatherback sea turtle. So cool!

Ocean sunfish

Lunch time!!! This leatherback sea turtle is chowing down on its favorite food - lion's mane jellyfish!

We have been super fortunate to come across numerous leatherback sea turtles this season 💚

On Monday afternoon, we came across a group of four humpback whales. That wasn't it. They were associated with a pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins! So much to be in awe of as they all gracefully moved through the water together. 

Such beauty in wildlife!

Humpback whales with dolphins nearby

Can you spot the dolphin fluke?? 😍

We also found another humpback whale before wrapping up the day. Individuals included Orion, Fan, Owl, Spoon, and Victim.

Marvelous moments out in the Gulf of Maine continued on Tuesday. In the morning, we started the trip with a pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins. They were busy scooting around, creating plenty of whitewater when they surfaced. 

Dolphin on the move!

Out on Jeffreys Ledge, we spent time with three humpback whales, with a few more out in the distance. Pinball, Dross, and Crinkle were also busy scooting through the water, as both Pinball and Dross breached multiple times shortly after passing by one another. 

Humpback whales

Pinball breaching

We also checked out one of the many ocean sunfish we sighted during our travels. 

Ocean sunfish

We also had a feathery hitchhiker during our travels home!

On Tuesday afternoon, we started our trip with an ocean sunfish just outside the harbor. 

Another trip, another ocean sunfish sighting!

Offshore, we spent time with five humpback whales, including a trio and a pair! Once again, shenanigans were in effect as we were lucky to watch Spoon breach shortly after Fan started tail breaching. 

Spoon mid-breach!

Whales can start and stop behaviors in the blink of an eye. How fortunate to witness such unexpected moments. Individuals included Fan, Orion, Spoon, Victim, and Owl. 

Pair of humpback whales

Perhaps the most unexpected part of the trip was when a gaggle of Wilson's storm petrels became obsessed with following two of our whales, feverishly feeding in their footprints. It was mesmerizing. The day finished off with a few Atlantic white-sided dolphins and a few ocean sunfish along the way.

Wilson's storm petrels (above and below)

Can you find the whale behind all the petrels?

So fascinating

August 23, 2026

The high winds kept us on land on Saturday. On Sunday morning, we spent time watching six humpback whales, all in pairs. We also saw an ocean sunfish and a quick look at a blue shark. Our humpback whales included Quote, Reaper, Crinkle, Pitcher, Owl, and Chromosome. 

Pair of humpback whales

Humpback whale

Diving humpback whale

Ocean sunfish

In the afternoon, we got a chance to spend time with another new visitor to the Jeffreys Ledge region. Great to see you, Victim! We also got a few bonus looks at a pod of harbor porpoises on our travels home.

Victim (above and below)

Grey seal seen during our travels home

Harbor porpoise just outside Rye Harbor

August 20-21, 2026

 We started off Thursday morning with sunny and calm conditions as we made our way offshore. We headed to an area where we had found luck with whales very consistently over the last few weeks. Once there, we were able to get a quick look at a minke whale, before heading over to a humpback whale we spotted nearby.

Minke whale

Our humpback whale was revealed to be Satula! This whale spent much of their time circling around the area, likely foraging on small schooling fish underneath the surface.

Satula diving away

Diving towards us

We said goodbye to Satula as we began to search for more marine life. Shortly after started our travels, we got looks at an ocean sunfish.

Ocean sunfish

We saw a LOT of ocean sunfish throughout our travels this trip, even getting the chance to see one jump clear out of the water. Eventually, it was time to head back in towards Rye.

Thursday afternoon began with a course change. We headed in a southerly direction after leaving the harbor, headed towards distant reports of whales. On our way down south, we were extremely fortunate to come across a rare sighting of common dolphins (yes, I see the irony in that statement)! This was our first time encountering this species of dolphin this season.

Common dolphin!!!

Pair of dolphins

This particular pod was on the smaller side, with only around 8 or so individuals in the area. These dolphins spent much of their time riding just underneath our bow, such a fun way to start our afternoon! As much as we wanted to stay with these dolphins, we pulled ourselves away to continue our search for other, larger whales. After a while longer of travelling, we came into an area with with a whole lot going on. We started with a trio of humpbacks, which quickly became a group of five, consisting of Fan, Quill, Cacophony, Spika, and Alligator. 

Four of five humpbacks (one is subsurface)

The longer we sat there, the more apparent it became just how many whales were in the area. Out in the distance we could see other single humpbacks as well as pairs and a trio. Other humpback whales close to us included Valley, Jawa, Patches, and Dross. While spending time with Valley and Jawa, much excitement rang out from our boat as a distant trio of humpbacks displayed a triple breach out behind us! we slowly began to work our way in that direction, as one of the whales continued breaching.

Humpback breaching (and one diving)

This trio of whales consisted of Spoon, Chromosome and Quote. Spoon was active at the surface for almost the entire time we spent with them as she tail lobbed, breached, and flipper slapped repeatedly. Quote and Chromosome also spent much of the time flipper slapping.

Trio of whales, flipper slapping

Our time with these whales flew by, and before we knew it, we had to start heading home. As we slowly worked our way out of the area, we were also able to identify two other distant humpbacks, Draco and Gunslinger, before making our journey back home.

Friday morning was a wee bit more rocky and rolly than originally forecasted to be. While unable to press offshore in our efforts, we searched nearshore areas towards Cape Ann. We were able to get great looks at an ocean sunfish, something we usually need much nicer conditions just to be able to spot!

Ocean sunfish

While watching this sunfish, we received reports of whale activity from our friends at Newburyport Whale Watch! We travelled just a little further south and were able to spend the rest of our time with a very surface active humpback whale!

Breaching humpback!

It was incredible watching this whale jump out of the water again and again. After getting some truly amazing looks, the wind and waves were showing no signs of letting up, so we began our journey back towards home. With conditions being rougher than forecasted, the decision was made to cancel our afternoon trip.

Wednesday, August 19, 2026

 What an amazing day of whale watching!

This morning, we had to contend with a bit of fog, which always makes finding whales a little tricky (or should I say we are lucky if we find one!). We had just enough visibility to spot a couple of ocean sunfish and a minke whale before we saw a humpback whale jump out of the water in the near distance! It only happened once, but it was pretty spectacular!

When we got closer to the area of the breaching humpback, we saw multiple humpbacks spread out. The breacher was identified as Zodiac, a whale with an almost all-black tail.

Soon, we found Satula who surfaced so closely that we could hear the powerful inhalation just after the loud exhalation!

The other humpback in the area was a new whale for the Granite State- Warrior! This whale had been seen by a southern Maine whale-watching company (which, sadly, is no longer in business) in the late 1990’s but had never been documented by any of Blue Ocean Society’s affiliated boats. Super cool!

A couple of minke whales were darting around, and a few other ocean sunfish were enjoying the calm seas.

Our ride home was perhaps the most exciting part of the trip (at least for the crew). We found not one, but two sea turtles!! And, they were different species!! The first was a loggerhead sea turtle- our first of the season, and the first in at least two years!!!

The second was a leatherback sea turtle, the largest of all the sea turtles! We have been seeing a few leatherback sea turtles over the past few weeks, and this one appeared to be a new individual!

 

The afternoon trip also started off with an ocean sunfish! As we were watching it, we saw a blow nearby. We headed there and found a humpback whale known as Patches! Patches is the whale featured on the brochure of Granite State Whale Watch! We don’t see him all that often, but we are always excited when we do!

A minke whale was in the neighborhood before spotting Satula again today! Satula was moving around quite a bit, covering lots of territory.

Another humpback whale surfaced, coming up vertically through a bubble cloud! Warrior was still in the area, and doing some surface feeding- beautiful!

As we waited for Warrior to return to the surface, we were surprised by Patches surfacing right behind the boat! Again, the whales are moving around a lot these days, so even though we left Patches a mile or two away, he decided to come check out what Warrior was up to!

Satula was seen in the distance a couple of times, and then it was time to head home. But just before we left the area, another blow was seen- another humpback whale! And this one was Kickoff, who is a whale rarely seen in our area!

Fabulous day for whale watching!