July 18-19, 2022

We got our morning trip in on Monday before the increased wind and rain were scheduled to move into the area. Instead, we got to travel through varying levels of fog as we made our way to Jeffreys Ledge. Once on the ledge, we slowly scoured the area, first getting eyes on a minke whale, then a fin whale!

Fin whale

Visibility continued to improve for more searching capacity, and we even spent time with two humpback whales - Clamp and Dyad.

Diving humpback whale

Humpback whale

The trip wrapped up with a grey seal. A fun variety, and wonderful looks, at the marine life we spent time with!

Grey seal

The ocean was moving and grooving on Tuesday. The swell was coming from one direction and the wind from another. This equals a very confused ocean, and made for extra "excitement" on the water. Not surprisingly, the extra movement of the waves does not deter the whales. In the morning, the first whales we watched were a mother-calf fin whale pair! We don't often come across mother-calf fin whales, such a find so early in the day! We then checked out humpback whales Clamp, Diablo, and Pinball.

Fin whale pair!

Humpback whale

On our transit back to Rye Harbor, Blue Ocean Society's interns spotted Atlantic white-sided dolphins. Awesome spotting Kayla!

Atlantic white-sided dolphins

Tuesday afternoon was full of its own surprises. We started with a fin whale, first identified by Blue Ocean researchers in 2000!

Fin whale #0021

Then we maneuvered ourselves into an area where five humpback whales were darting around. The birds were soaring from above while the whales were changing directions constantly. Individuals included Diablo, Pinball, Dyad, Tripod, and Clamp.

A small pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins even scooted through the area.

Dolphin!

As if that wasn't enough, Captain Jonathan got eyes on a blue shark on our trip back to the mainland and maneuvered the boat for some fun looks before the shark slipped under the surface.

Blue shark's dorsal fin