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!

August 18, 2026

The wind kept us on land on Monday, and on Tuesday morning, some thick fog was waiting for us to start the day. As we ventured offshore, the fog thinned out, and there was plenty of life to see. During our trip, we saw two ocean sunfish, five humpback whales, a minke whale, and a nursery pod of approximately 75 Atlantic white-sided dolphins.

Ocean sunfish

Minke whale

Diving humpback whale

Humpback whales included Patches, Satula, Alligator, Zodiac, and Clamp. Though perhaps the sighting that produced the most smiles was from our pod of dolphins. There were so many calves! 😊 

Atlantic white-sided dolphins

Can you find the baby dolphin face??? 😍

On Tuesday afternoon, we checked out four humpback whales (Satula, Alligator, Clamp, and Zodiac), a minke whale, a few grey seals, and a small pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins, all in proximity to each other. Marine life was popping up around the boat! 

Such calm seas!

Dolphins swimming by

We wrapped up the day by checking out one of the few ocean sunfish we spotted along the way.

Ocean sunfish

Augst 15-16, 2026

Watching whales is mesmerizing, awe-inspiring, and unlike any other moment. We love sharing these experiences with all of you. On both trips on Saturday, we started with an ocean sunfish. These fish are so intriguing to see. 

Morning ocean sunfish

On Saturday morning, we got a chance to spend time with five humpback whales, had a minke whale in the area, and saw a few more ocean sunfish as we traveled along. The morning's whales included Owl, Quote, Orion, Satula, and Fan. 

Owl

Such a high-fluking dive!

After our ocean sunfish sightings on Saturday afternoon, we came across 10 humpback whales. 

Afternoon ocean sunfish

We found ourselves, at one point, with spouts in multiple directions as whales circled; such beauty in the surrounding wildlife. Individuals included Patches, Owl, Stance, Satula, Spika, Zodiac, Alligator, Fan, Quote, and Orion.

Patches, the same whale on the front cover of the Granite State brochure. We love this whale!

It's so fascinating to see the associations that are formed between some of these whales from one day to another. Sometimes shifting as we are present! 

Pair of humpback whales

Stunning sightings continued on Sunday. The morning trip consisted of multiple ocean sunfish, eight humpback whales, and a couple of small pods of Atlantic white-sided dolphins. 

Ocean sunfish

The dolphins were associated with different pairs of humpback whales, and we even spent time with a trio of humpback whales. Individuals included Patches, Fan, Spika, Owl, Stance, Alligator, Quote, and Orion. 

Atlantic white-sided dolphins

Pair of humpback whales

On Sunday afternoon, we spent time with six humpback whales, with more spouts in the distance than we had time to check out. For a few surfacings, we had whales feeding on both sides of the boat, creating bubble clouds and doing tight circles. 

Lunge-feeding whales

Bubble cloud as Owl moves through the water

We also watched an ocean sunfish swim by as whales surfaced nearby. Whales included Patches, Owl, Stance, Alligator, Satula, and Orion. 

August 13-14, 2026

 We began Thursday morning with a sighting of an ocean sunfish! These fish are always so much fun to get looks at, but aren't what we make our way offshore for, so we continued searching for whales until we came upon a pair of humpback whales, Alligator and Stance.

Ocean sunfish

As we followed along with our pair of whales, we were also able to get looks at a distant minke whale and even a fin whale, which are seemingly few and far between this season! All the while, we were also joined by a third humpback, Owl. Eventually, we moved on from these whales. After putting some distance between us and them, we were able to watch several more humpbacks, including Satula, Patches and Zodiac. While waiting for any one of these whales to resurface, Captain Pete spotted a Leatherback Sea Turtle not far from us! Our eighth turtle for the season (and the last week)!!!

Leatherback turtle - turtle power continues!!!

After spending some time with this turtle, we eventually turned our attention back towards the humpbacks, not long later we were also joined by a small and speedy pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins! Such an amazing start to the day!

Humpback diving

White-sided dolphin

Thursday Afternoon contained quite a bit of life along the surface, all contained in one small area. Similarly to the morning, our trip began with us looking at an ocean sunfish. Pressing on, we began seeing humpback whales all around us. These whales included Orion, Zodiac, Patches, Satula, Stance and Alligator.

Ocean Sunfish

Humpback diving

As we were watching these humpbacks, we also got some quick looks at two different minke whales that had been passing through the area.

Minke whale

Eventually, we headed off to a trio of humpback whales, Fan, Quote and Spika, to finish off our trip. These whales were being extremely mellow at the surface, right up until they weren't...

Spinning head breach!!!

Suddenly at one moment, Fan rushed to life and dove down quickly! We all prepared ourselves. Then, moments later, she jumped clear out of the water! Such an amazing way for us to end our afternoon.

Friday morning began with us getting to spend time with two different pods of Atlantic white-sided dolphins! These dolphins were doing an excellent job circling around the area, as we then got eyes on a few larger whales out in the distance.

White-sided dolphins

Our large whale sightings began with a sleepy pair of humpbacks, Owl and Alligator. Eventually leaving them to their morning nap, we moved just a bit further away and encountered a few more humpbacks, Satula, Zodiac and Orion. Quite a few of our whales were doing a great job of holding their breath underneath the surface. Fortunately, other marine life was making their way through the area, in the form of several minke whales, as well as a grey seal!

Grey seal at surface

At a certain point, when waiting for any one of our whales to surface, they all did! Satula and Zodiac surfaced nearby, and they were even joined by another humpback, Stance. All the while, two minke whales were also surfacing between us and the humpbacks. An excellent start to our day offshore!

Humpback surfacing

Humpback diving

Minke whale

Friday afternoon can be summed up as "absolute craziness". We started our trip with Patches the humpback, as well as two ocean sunfish that were nearby our whale.

Ocean sunfish

After moving along, we came across a trio of humpbacks, Fan, Quote and Spika. These whales remained fairly mellow, but that would be the last of that for the trip. 

Humpbacks travelling

We said goodbye to our trio, and moved further along. We began watching a single humpback, Satula, while also keeping tabs on several other distant whales. One of those distant whales, began tail breaching and lobbing. As I tried to document this behavior, the viewfinder on my camera was suddenly engulfed by something else.

Holy Breach!!!

Out of nowhere, Satula displayed a spinning head breach! A very sudden but welcome surprise for all of us aboard. We remained idle for a while, watching Satula circle around, also getting quick looks at a passing minke whale. After a while, we pressed on to get looks at the other humpback whales we had been seeing. Our distant surface active humpback whales was shown to be Owl, who was also in the same area as Zodiac, and a pair of whales, Stance and Orion. We decided to finish up our trip with the pair of whales. As we thought we were getting our last looks, Orion suddenly began tail breaching repeatedly at the surface, and at the same time, disassociated from Stance. Orion continued tail breaching for some time, until they decided to switch things up with several other styles of breaching.

Flipper breach

This whale breached again and again and again. Words could no longer describe what we were seeing, so we all watched in silence as this whale continued jumping out of the water. Eventually, the clock began ticking and it was time to leave. As we did, we got to watch Orion switch from breaching to flipper slapping. Such an unforgettable afternoon.

Huge flipper!