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!

August 12, 2026

Wednesday morning started off pretty slowly with a small group of harbor porpoises, and then a humpback whale taking 12-minute dives. But things picked up when we saw some splashes in the distance!  A humpback whale was flipper slapping, tail breaching and even full breaching out of the water multiple times! There was another whale near this active one, but it was much more mellow.

We later found a familiar whale, Satula, who was hanging out near the fleet of tuna boats.

And on our way home, we passed by a minke whale, ocean sunfish and another humpback.

 

Wednesday afternoon, we started with a nice look at an ocean sunfish and then spotted a pair of humpback whales. These two were sometimes seen together, and other times seen apart.

Soon, another pair of humpbacks was seen. These two were blowing clouds of dense bubbles right next to the boat while we were quietly idling with our engines in neutral. I am always amazed by whales doing their thing and not caring one bit about our presence.

A fifth humpback whale was seen from a distance as we headed home. We were truly treated to an amazing day of watching whales! 

Identified whales today included Orion, Stance, Chromosome, Satula, Quote, Fan, Spika and Zodiac.

August 10-11, 2026

This morning was as calm as could be; perfect sighting conditions for whatever was out there. And there sure was a lot of stuff out there! We started with a group of 5 harbor porpoises, before encountering three ocean sunfish! We then found a solitary humpback whale known as Spika.

We continued on to check out some more blows nearby. A group of four humpback whales came to the surface and then began to take a nap. We shut down our engines and drifted along with the group as they each took a breath every minute or so. Such a serene setting!

In the distance we spotted three more humpback whales- a solitary one, and a pair. Spika showed up again, and then we saw yet another ocean sunfish before seeing a minke whale!

Two more solitary humpbacks showed up, and to our surprise, these two were part of Blue Ocean Society’s adopt-a-whale program! Pinball and Satula were hanging out in the same area, but not together. Pinball wasn’t lifting her tail much, but we got a couple of great looks at Satula!

A couple more ocean sunfish were seen as well as another distant humpback. Then, we saw some small dorsal fins cutting through the water- dolphins! This was a massive pod of about 200 Atlantic white-sided dolphins! They were everywhere! The dolphins swam right alongside the boat surrounding us at times! Beautiful!

Back offshore on Monday afternoon, whale spouts were numerous. Most of the time, it seemed no matter where you were on the boat, whale spouts could be seen in every direction. Some close, others towards the horizon. 

Humpback whale diving

We slowly meandered around to check out as much as we could. Some whales were in groups, others were independent, and some were shifting their associations. 

Pair of humpback whales

Humpback whale flipper

Belly-up humpback whale with both flippers in the air!

We identified nine humpback whales near us. They included Spika, Owl, Thistle, Spoon, Chromosome, Quote, Cacophony, Valley, and Satula. There was also a small pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins that were being sneaky. They would suddenly pop up associated with different humpback whales as we maneuvered around. Birds were also scattered around, including petrels and shearwaters. 

Great shearwater taking off

No doubt, the highlight of the trip (especially for the crew!) was another leatherback sea turtle. FOUR FOR FOUR!!! We've had four different leatherback sea turtles in four days. Our turtle power continues...😲 So fortunate, memorable, and incredible.

This leatherback sea turtle was steadily on the move

This leatherback sea turtle was creating its own wake when it surfaced!

Multiple people described Tuesday as "Epic." What a perfect word to describe the diversity and beauty of what we have seen recently. On Tuesday morning, we spent time with six different humpback whales. 

It was a mixed bag: some sleeping, some being active, and others in the middle. Owl, Thistle, Alligator, Zodiac, Valley, and Quote were all whales in that mix. 

We also passed by a few ocean sunfish, a very quick look at a blue shark, and TWO leatherback sea turtles. The turtle streak continues, with two no less, in one trip! 💚

Leatherback sea turtle #1 of the trip

Leatherback sea turtle #2!

On Tuesday afternoon we saw another leatherback sea turtle! At this point, we have gone well past speechless and straight to disbelief. 

Incoming leatherback sea turtle! 

We have now had FIVE DAYS in a row of seeing leatherback sea turtles. Almost unfathomable, and yet, it happened. 😊

Leatherback sea turtle in stunning conditions

Additionally, there were three ocean sunfish, 10 humpback whales, and a pod of approximately 120 Atlantic white-sided dolphins mixed in with the humpback whales. It was wildlife bliss. 

Ocean sunfish

Humpback whale and dolphin at the surface

More humpback whales and dolphins

Identified whales included Owl, Thistle, Satula, Stance, Orion, Spoon, Chromosome, Fan, Cacophony, and Alligator. The sightings over the past few days have been beyond words, and it has been incredible to share these experiences with all of you!