July 5-6, 2023

 Finally, two days without rain or fog!!

Wednesday morning found a very cooperative minke whale to start the trip. Sometimes these “little” 25-ft whales can be elusive, but this one was amazing! And, of course, we had perfect conditions for viewing with flat calm seas. Next, we saw a pair of humpback whales, Pinball and her calf! The pair swam right toward the boat before diving. Then the calf approached us while Pinball surfaced 100 yards away. As we were about to head home, a large grey seal popped up nearby!

Minke whale

Mom/calf pair

We returned to where we had seen the morning’s activity on Wednesday afternoon. We found a pod of about 50 Atlantic white-sided dolphins on our way there! These curious animals swam around the boat, and we were thrilled to see several calves! This was the first time we have seen dolphins this season! Continuing on, we found some humpbacks, including two mother/calf pairs and a single adult. The first pair was Valley and her calf, and as we were watching them, Pinball and her calf swam right by us!  Owl was in the distance and was blowing bubble clouds, apparently to corral her prey. Such a fantastic day on the ocean!

 

Thursday morning was beautifully calm once again! Just a bit of haze, but that didn’t impair our ability to find whales. Before we left the harbor, we had a pretty cool sighting- a bald eagle sitting in a tree by the harbor!

We saw several blows as we approached the area. The whales were moving around quite a bit, so it took us a minute to figure out what everyone was doing. Our first decent sighting of humpback whales was of a mother and calf pair. The mom wasn’t fluking, but her dorsal fin was familiar. We checked the local list of humpbacks seen so far in the area, and our guess for this whale wasn’t on the list. Finally, she lifted her tail, and our guess was correct! This was Tripod and her newest calf! We also saw Pinball and her calf again! This calf seems to be quite precocious. At times the pair were separated by a half mile or so. Usually, at this time of year, calves stick pretty close to mom. Next, we saw Satula in the area, and before we knew it, Pinball’s calf was hanging out with him, and Pinball was nowhere to be found! Some minke whales were spotted darting through the area before we ended our trip with Valley and her calf. Quite the nursery on the Ledge this morning!

 

Bald eagle in Rye Harbor

Thursday afternoon, we went to the same area as the morning and again found several humpback whales and a couple of minke whales. Our first humpback was Pinball’s calf who was by itself. Again, it took us some time to figure out what the whales were up to. We found Satula feeding on a big pile of bait below the boat, and before we knew it, Owl appeared! These two stayed together, feeding on that bait ball for a while before moving off in their own directions. Pinball and her calf joined up again, and later, we saw Valley and her calf, who were just chilling at the surface, slowly moving side by side. Another amazing day on the ocean!

Humpback whale mom/calf pair