Wednesday, October 7

The wind and waves have been keeping us attached to the dock this past week so you can imagine how excited we were to have the weather-window finally open so we could get back to the open ocean to look for whales! Anytime a big weather pattern keeps us on land we are eager (and extremely anxious!) to see what may, or may not, be out in the area where we last saw whales. The ocean gets extremely churned up and can cause whale-food to congregate more tightly together, can shift areas or completely disperse all together. Alas, the whales were waiting for us in similar locations to where we have been seeing them over the past month. Perhaps even more exciting was seeing some of the familiar tails we've had in the area recently but also some new whales that we have not spotted in our area at all this season. In total we came across 10 Humpback whales, 2 Minke whales and 4 Harbor seals. Our Minke whales were on the outskirts of the area as we moved around all the whale activity today with harbor seals popping up here and there as well. We started with a sleepy mother and her calf Humpback whale pair. Shuffleboard and her calf were resting at the surface the entire time we watched them.

Shuffleboard and her calf

 We then headed a bit further offshore and came across a trio of whales. Clipper, Sword and Clamp were all slowly moving through the area together!

Clipper

Sword, Clamp and Clipper at the surface in such beautiful ocean conditions

These are very well-known whales to the area so to see them spending time with one another was certainly a special treat! With some phenomenal looks at these whales we headed to another trio as we watched out in the distance, and a few times once on scene, some breaching! Daffodil, Repeat and Geometry were swimming around together. It was Geometry that continued to be the active whale rolling and flipper slapping the majority of the time we watched this group of whales maneuver around.

Geometry's massive flipper

Repeat, Daffodil and Geometry (flipper in the air)

Humpback whale breach! Thanks GS crew member #0489 for capturing this moment!

To round out an already wonderful day we got a few quick looks at Owl and her calf before heading back to Rye Harbor.

Owl and her calf slowly moving past the boat

This coming weekend is our last weekend for the 2015 season. We hope the weather cooperates so we can get back out there for one last "whale-fix" seeing what/where/who may be spending time in the area!