Tuesday, August 5

The weather was as good as you could get on the water today. No wind, no fog, and with whales around it was a great day to be on the water. Our morning travels brought us plenty of marine life so close to home. Just after leaving the harbor we found some Harbor porpoise. The glass-like ocean conditions made these, and all of our whale sightings, great for checking out marine life.

Harbor porpoise just outside the harbor! (above and below)

After a bit of searching inside the Isles of Shoals we found a spout. It was a Fin whale. Suddenly we had not only one spout but two! We ended up spending time with one of these whales as our second Fin whale appeared and soon disappeared as quickly as we had seen it. We got some great looks at our whale, #9709, as this large Fin whale was moving around.

The weather was so nice you can barely tell the difference between the flat ocean and the clear skies as our Fin whale moved through the area

#9709 circling around

We continued on and ended up spending some time with many of the 5 Minke whales we saw. These whales can be tricky to get looks at as they are known to constantly dart around. However, most of our Minke whales were just the opposite! These whales were slowly moving around meandering close by, giving us some great opportunities to check out these wild whales.

A few of our Minke whales we spent time with this morning (above and below)

Our afternoon started with plans of trying to find many of the whales we had seen during our morning travels. Right up until minutes after leaving the harbor we got reports from folks out on Jeffreys Ledge of whales (thanks!). The ride was going to be a bit longer, as we have been seeing wildlife only miles from land and it has been some time since we actually were checking out some of the regions on Jeffreys Ledge itself. With such beautiful ocean conditions we decided to give it a go. We never really know what we might find even when we receive whale reports and with plenty of miles between us and the reports we knew it was going to be a chance we were going to have to take. Once we got into the area we did some searching. First we spotted a Minke whale. Again this whale was extremely cooperative and gave all of us some great looks as this animal cruised right along side us.

Minke whale we checked out this afternoon

As we were spending time with this whale suddenly we saw splashing out in the distance. The whales we had been looking for! 4 Humpback whales were out on the Ledge. The sighting was even more amazing as we quickly recognized exactly who we were around. We first spent time with Valley and Milkyway. These whales were lazily moving around as we spent time alongside them.

Milkway's almost all black tail

Valley

Milkyway the Humpback whale

Before heading for home we also checked out another pair that appeared to be doing some traveling. It was Clipper and Quote!

Clipper's extremely large tail as Quote swims alongside her

Clipper has been seen one other time this year but none of our other whales have been seen on Jeffreys Ledge this season. It has been a couple years since Quote was seen in our neck of the ocean and with Valley being a regular to the area almost every year at some point during the season it made our time offshore especially exciting to see some of our "usuals" near by.

Quote's very unique pigmentation pattern on her tail

As the season continues these whales continue to keep us on our toes as who knows what may be around next time we leave the harbor. Until then!

A few rain clouds to the north of us as we headed for home

A beautiful view and end to a very nice day out on the water