Wednesday, August 26, 2026

Wednesday was a perfect day on the water! Clear skies and calm seas, and of course whales! This morning, we got a quick passing look at a minke whale before checking out an ocean sunfish! 

Next, we found our first of six different humpback whales. Patches was hanging out by himself but staying in the same area, making him easy to spot.

Soon, we saw several spouts in the distance- a trio of humpback whales! Owl, Quote and Reaper were taking a nap, just floating along and not caring at all that we were checking them out. We love watching the lazy whales!

Moving on, a couple more humpbacks showed up (Fan and Victim), but before we checked them out, we spent some time with a pod of about 50 Atlantic white-sided dolphins! These small animals were all around the boat, delighting all the folks onboard, including the crew!

Our trip home brought us back to the area where we had seen the trio of humpbacks, but now the whales had woken up from their mid-morning rest. Reaper was repeatedly flipper slapping while Owl and Quote didn’t seem to be phased.

 This afternoon, we found Owl again. She was initially by herself, but was then joined by Reaper.

A couple of large grey seals were bobbing in the water just before we came upon Fan and Victim, still together since our morning trip. The pair was moving toward another pair that was being watched by another whale-watching boat, so we decided to let them do their thing, and we moved off to check out yet more whales in the area. We like to give whales plenty of space and communicate with other boats out there so that we don’t have multiple boats on the same whales at the same time, whenever possible.

Another pair of humpbacks was nearby, which included Clamp, famous for her high fluke tail lob action! This one was particularly dramatic! 

We planned to watch these whales for a few minutes, but the other whale-watching boat called us to say that 2 of their 4 whales were breaching right behind us! Amazing! We caught a few head breaches from one of the whales and then followed 2 of the 4 as they moved away from the breaching whales. Soon enough, though, one of these whales started tail-breaching and tail lobbing!

Atlantic white-sided dolphins rounded out our trip as we began to head for home. These spunky animals are always crowd pleasers!

And to top it all off, just before getting back to the harbor, we saw blue fin tuna crashing through the surface as they were chasing down their meal!

Beautiful days like these are what whale watching dreams are made of!

 

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.