October 10-11, 2026; the end of our season

This weekend we wrapped up our final public trips of the 2026 season. Saturday didn't start the final trips of the year the way we'd hoped. We searched. We searched some more. We searched A LOT of area in hopes of finding whales. Unfortunately, we came up with nothing. Many thanks to all of our passengers who helped us search the horizon. We hope to see you again another day! On Sunday, we started with a minke whale as we headed offshore. 

Minke whale

After a few looks at this baleen whale, we investigated a huge flock of northern gannets soaring above the horizon. The birds were busy checking out the toothed whales (really, any fish) below! 

All those birds you see in the sky are northern gannets; so many!

Northern gannets

We spent time with a pod of ~175 Atlantic white-sided dolphins. This pod had so many calves; it was adorable. There were also ~20 Short-beaked common dolphins within this pod. Two different species in one pod AND a swarm of gannets above. It was a stunning sight. 

Atlantic white-sided dolphin in the bottom left and a short-beaked common dolphin in the top right of this image!

Short-beaked common dolphins

Atlantic white-sided dolphins (above and below)

The lighting in the sky added to the beauty of the birds and dolphins

After more searching on and inshore of Jeffreys Ledge, we ended our day with another minke whale.

Minke whale

As always, thank you to all our passengers who joined us this season. We love first-timers, frequent flyers, and everyone in between. So many familiar smiling faces ready to search the Gulf of Maine for some incredible wildlife. We look forward to sharing so many more memories with all of you in the future. Have a safe winter and see you again in 2027!

October 9, 2026

 Friday's whale watch began with us headed to where we had been having luck with whales during our last few trips. After making our way there, we were unable to locate any whales, so we continued along. Switching directions and travelling a little ways allowed us to come across a pair of humpback whales, Spoon and Fan.

Pair of humpbacks

Fan diving

As we spent time with these whales, we were treated to excellent looks as Spoon remained at the surface for much of the time, while Fan went down on several deeper dives. 

Humpbacks surfacing

Spoon diving

Eventually, it was time to head home! Only two days remain in our 2026 whale watching season. Time to manifest amazing whale vibes!!!

October 7, 2026

 It was a blustery fall day on the ocean, but the whales didn't seem to mind. After waiting for our first whale that had decided to start training for a breath-holding competition, we gave up to pursue a pair of humpback whales in the distance. To our happy surprise, these were Ibex and Chevron! The Granite State has only seen Ibex once in 2022, and this was Chevron's first time being seen here by us! They are more often seen up in the Bay of Fundy, off Nova Scotia!

Moving along, we saw more blows and ended up with several humpbacks, a few dolphins of unknown species, and a curious minke whale! One of the humpbacks was one we have been seeing regularly for the past couple of weeks, but it does not have a name yet.  

On our trip home, we spotted lots of little splashes just north of us. We were trying to figure out what species of dolphin they were when we realized we weren't looking at dolphins at all! This was a large pod of harbor porpoises! While typically shy and elusive, this group was amazing- possibly the best we have seen in a long time!

We will be back out on Friday for the start to our final weekend of whale watching for the season :(

October 4, 2026

 Sunday, just a little over an hour from leaving the dock, we spotted our first whale of the day! This was a fin whale, and it decided to swim right by us!

Soon, we saw other blows in the area. A humpback whale was zigzagging around, possibly chasing schools of fish below the surface. As we watched this whale for a couple of surfacings, we saw some dolphins close by!

A pod of about 75 Atlantic white-sided dolphins was cruising around, and then out of nowhere, a fin whale came up in the middle of the pod! This is my absolute favorite thing to see! The second-largest animal species on the planet was surrounded by this pod of relatively small toothed whales. To make it even more special, the fin whale was one that we had seen a few days ago, and whose first sighting was back in 2007. 

The humpback whale showed up again, and before we knew it, three species were all in the same area!

As we continued on, we passed by another fin whale before finding a pair of humpback whales. These two weren't always coming up together, with one of the pair taking longer dives than the other. 

Our next scheduled trip is Wednesday, and we can't wait to see what the rest of our short season has in store for us!

October 3, 2026

 Saturday's whale watch started off in an exciting way as our sightings began with a mother/calf pair of humpbacks! The mother, Noir, and her calf were synchronizing their dives in the beginning, but after a short while, as Noir would go down on deeper dives, the calf remained at the surface near our vessel. We sat idle at the surface with our engines off as the calf spent much of its time rolling on its side next to us and repeatedly circled around.

Mother/calf humpbacks diving

Calf surfacing nearby!

Once the calf finally moved to go rejoin its mother, we took that opportunity to investigate another whale we had been keeping tabs on close by. This was revealed to be a fin whale! 

Fin whale diving

It's been so much fun over the last few days getting to see more and more fin whales after seeing barely any over the last few months. As we spent time with the finback, we could still see the distant spouts of other whales out in the distance. We eventually made our way in that direction, coming across two more humpback whales.

Humpback surfacing

Humpback diving

After getting some excellent looks at these whales, we started our journey back towards home. See y'all tomorrow!

October 2, 2026

 Friday's whale watch began shortly after we left the harbor, receiving a report of dolphins from our friends at Cape Ann Whale Watch, not far from where we had luck with whales the day prior. Reports of dolphins can run cold quick as these are very fast moving whales and can be long gone before we ever get near the reported area, but luck was on our side today! After travelling for an hour we could see plenty of birds flying overhead out in the distance, along with plenty of splashing underneath them. Making our way into the area, we were able to spend time a mixed pod of at least two hundred Atlantic white-sided dolphins, accompanied by twenty or thirty common dolphins. 

White-sided dolphins

Common dolphins

Hard to see, but dorsal fins everywhere at the surface!

We were able to get some incredible looks at these dolphins before ultimately continuing on in search of other large whales. It didn't take long at all for us to happen upon a fin whale resting near the surface.

Fin whale

Tail rise

Once we were able to spend some time with this whale, we continued our search for other whales, eventually happening across a juvenile humpback whale. Increasing wind and waves made for slightly challenging viewing of this little whale. Fortunately, however, a larger humpback whale, Reception, made its way into the area and we were able to get some excellent looks! This whale displayed some impressive surface behaviors including tail breaching and tail lobbing before continuing on with its day.

Belly up, tail-lobbing humpback

Finally, it was time for us to head home. What an amazing day with four species of whale!

October 1, 2026

 Today was a glassy, gray Thursday as we ventured offshore with a school field trip. Day two of being back on the water after the recent nor'easter was nothing short of exceptional! Our trip began with a juvenile humpback whale that held us hostage for a long while as it repeatedly circled around our boat as we sat idle with the engines turned off.

Curious humpback whale

Eventually, this whale continued on with its day. As we sat waiting to make sure our humpback had moved on, we were able to get distant looks at a minke whale and a fin whale!

Distant finback diving

Once we relocated our humpback, we were able to slowly meander towards another pair of humpbacks that had moved into the area. This was the beginning of another exciting encounter as this was a mother/calf pair!

Mom/calf diving

These two humpbacks spent much of their time circling the area, giving us amazing looks at the pair. As we followed along with these whales, we were able to see a distant spout with quite a bit of splashing following it, so we said goodbye to our whales, and ventured over. After making our way closer, our day of amazing sightings didn't let up as we were now getting looks at a humpback whale being followed by a mixed pod of Atlantic white-sided and common dolphins!!!

Humpback and dolphins

Now, I say that this humpback was being followed and not in association with these dolphins. That's because this whale repeatedly slashed its tail and flippers at the surface, likely trying to get the dolphins to make some space around it. This humpback began to pick up quite a bit of speed, but it did little to send a message to the dolphins.

White-sided and common dolphins

Unfortunately, we couldn't ignore the clocks any longer, and it was time to head back to Rye Harbor. See you all this weekend!