Thursday morning really started to feel like summer as a heatwave blanketed the region. We were more than happy to cool off out on the water. Our trip began with a sighting of a humpback whale, Clamp!
Clamp diving
This whale was seen much closer to home than we have been seeing whales, so always a nice surprise when they start to close the gap between us and them as we travel offshore. While we watched Clamp, there was a fin whale that surfaced a ways off in the distance, very focused on travelling as we saw it once and then never again. We eventually moved on from Clamp, shortly after coming across a second humpback whale, Highlighter. This whale definitely wowed us as it displayed surface feeding behavior several times around our boat as we idled at the surface!
Humpback lunge feeding
Humpback belly-up after feeding
After letting Highlighter continue on with its feeding, we encountered one last humpback whale, a smaller individual keeping a low profile. An excellent way to start our Thursday sightings!
Thursday afternoon started with us covering over the same areas we had found luck with whales in the morning. However, the whales we go searching for have big tails and they like to use them! We came up empty in several locations until finally we were able to find some life. Our first sighting was an excellent look at a fin whale as it was travelling through the area!
Fin whale diving
While waiting to see if our fin whale would resurface close by, we also got quick looks at a minke whale, as well as distant humpback whale we were keeping tabs on. After seeing that our fin whale moved a ways off out in the distance, we opted to see if we could spend some time with the humpback whale. After relocating the humpback, it revealed itself to be Valley!
Valley diving
Similarly to the fin whale, Valley began doing some travelling, so we pressed on once again to see what else we could find this afternoon. As we travelled along, a humpback whale surfaced right off of our starboard side so we slowed down to get some looks. This whale was almost definitely the smaller, what I believe to be juvenile humpback that we had encountered in the morning as well. We stopped for a few minutes before starting our journey back towards Rye. On the journey home, we also got some excellent looks at an ocean sunfish!
Humpback whale diving
Friday morning was just as hot and humid as Thursday, so once again we were excited to get offshore and cool off, and our sightings certainly didn't disappoint as our trip began with a pod of at least one hundred Atlantic white-sided dolphins!
White-sided dolphins
These dolphins were on a mission as they moved with haste along the surface. After spending a good amount of time with them, we ultimately decided to press on and see what else the ledge had in store for us. Beautiful may not be a word that comes to the mind of most people as they are staring down at an ocean sunfish, but I for one cannot get over the speckled markings along the body of the one that we found after saying goodbye to our dolphins!
The most beautiful sunfish ever
Continuing further offshore we eventually came across our first humpback of the trip, Quote. This whale was very interested in travelling great distances between surfacing's so we decided to let her continue on with her day. Our final sighting of the trip was certainly an unforgettable one as we were able to sit idly almost the entire time as we were circled repeatedly by the humpback whale, Clamp!
Clamp diving
Clamp turning towards us
Clamp circled us again and again, occasionally surfacing with her mouth wide open, capturing bait fish just beneath the surface!
Friday afternoon began with the heatwave following us offshore. I'm always a fan of days that have almost no wind at all as it makes for calm viewing conditions just beneath the ocean's surface, but I think today I would've been willing to make an exception for a slight breeze. Regardless, hot and humid surface conditions didn't deter any of our sightings! The trip started off with an ocean sunfish as we made our way out beyond the Isles of Shoals.
Ocean Sunfish
Continuing further led us back to the area where we had seen Clamp the humpback whale in the morning, and sure enough she wasn't too far from where we had left her.
Humpback diving
After getting some excellent looks at this whale, we doubled back to the west to investigate a whale that we had seen a bit to our south as we made our way further offshore. Sure enough, one whale turned to two! We spent the majority of our trip with this pair of humpback whales, Valley and Chromosome, and boy were they moving!
Chromosome diving
Humpbacks surfacing in distance
These whales were moving with a purpose, and that purpose wasn't just to pass through the area. As we sat along the surface waiting for them, we were all very surprised to see both of them burst through the surface with their mouths wide open, capturing lots of bait fish inside! Unfortunately, each time the whales did this it was highly unpredictable so I was unable to capture any of those moments, but it was definitely an afternoon none of us aboard the Granite State will forget!
