July 3-4, 2023

The weather on Monday's trips couldn't have been more opposite. The day started with damp, foggy, and wavy conditions followed by sunshine and minimal wind in the afternoon. Luckily, the whales aren't much affected by what we experience above the water and we spent time with some great finds on both trips. In the morning, the trip started with a brief look at Finke! This is a minke whale we've been watching on the Granite State since 2011. Sadly, this whale lost its dorsal fin (hence Finke = finless minke) but has still been going strong all these years.

Finke the minke in the rain (Imagine a dorsal fin where the white healed scar is)

The trip also included six humpback whales: Owl, Valley and her 2023 calf, Spoon, Fan and New Jersey.

Valley and her calf

Lobtailing humpback whale

Owl

On the afternoon trip, we started with a breaching basking shark as we made our way to Jeffreys Ledge. We then spent time with some of the same individuals from the morning!

Valley the humpback whale

Pair of humpback whales

We also checked out two more basking sharks and a glance at a minke whale passing by.

This basking shark was on the move creating its own wake as it moved through the calm seas

Subsurface basking shark!

On Tuesday, we got a chance to see a few minke whales and humpback whales Owl, Pinball, and Pinball's calf on both of our trips.

Owl during our morning trip

In the morning, our humpback whales were initially cruising through the water but ended with all three circling around with a few close looks as they went after large patches of schooling fish below.

Pinball and her calf trucking through the water!

In the afternoon, we once again were privy to a bubble cloud from Pinball as the whales darted in each way around us.

For our birding friends: Recent trips have also included an uptick of pelagic birds such as sooty, great, and Cory's shearwaters, plenty of petrels, and even a few jaegers!

Jaeger!