Thursday Afternoon, after making our way out towards Jeffrey's Ledge, we were quickly greeted by several humpback whales including Pinball and Picket, as well as Clamp and her 2024 calf! We started our whale watching with the calf who was very active near the surface displaying behaviors such as tail lobbing and tail breaching, all while mom was very busy down in the depths of the ocean searching for food.
We would soon find out just how much food was just underneath the surface as we continued along, eventually coming across at least five different fin whales darting in all directions around us, some of which began surface feeding!
As we sat motionless watching our afternoon fin whale fiesta, we were also joined by another humpback whale, Whirlwind, who began surface feeding as well. An amazing way to end the day!
Friday morning began with several humpbacks spending time in close proximity of one another. We first began with getting looks at Satula, before pressing a little further and coming across two mother/calf pairs, Mudskipper and calf, as well as Clamp and calf! Both calves getting a little wiggly at the surface while their mothers when down on deeper dives.
Incredibly, our attention was taken away from these humpback whales as we noticed four basking sharks spending time near the surface not too far away! Sightings of these sharks have been few and far between in recent years, so to have so many in one trip put our crew at a loss for words. As we began to depart the area we noticed a large amount of splashing off in the distance that we moved to investigate. Moving in closer revealed a humpback whale repeatedly smacking its tail against the surface, which revealed itself to be a whale known as Evolution.
After saying goodbye to Evolution, we started making our way back towards Rye Harbor. About half of the way back we got very quick looks at another humpback, Sawtooth.
Friday Afternoon was kicked off with really quick looks at Sawtooth as we made our way down towards the southern tip of Jeffrey's Ledge. Once there, we spent time watching two humpback whales, Whirlwind and one unidentified individual, cooperatively feeding near the surface! These whales repeatedly coming up to the surface filtering water between their baleen plates. They were briefly joined by another whale, Satula, before he ultimately pressed further west on his own.
Humpback whale filtering saltwater
Satula joining pair of whales
After spending time with our first three whales, we noticed some splashing off of our starboard side, which turned out to be the 2024 calf of Clamp! Clamp's calf approached us and showed off an impressive display of tail breaches before crossing our bow to go meet up with mom who appeared a little ways away off of our port side.
Tail breach from Clamp '24 calf
As we waited for the calf to move away from our vessel we were treated to a small group of Atlantic white-sided dolphins that quickly pressed on out of the area. A fun way to end an excellent day out on the ledge!
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