June 21-22, 2025

 Saturday morning began with beautiful, glassy sea conditions that always make us excited to head out and see what the day has in store. The days sightings began with a basking shark! We were able to spend a few minutes with this shark before it eventually sank down into the depths below. It wasn't long after that before we came across our first whale of the day, a humpback whale named Badge!

Basking shark fin

Badge diving

As we spent time with Badge, this whale was doing some surface feeding all around the boat as we sat motionless (as motionless as you can be on the ocean) with our engines off. While watching this whale, we were able to spot some distant spouts. After heading over to investigate, these spouts turned into two humpback whales, Valley and Fan. These whales were working together to cooperatively feed near the surface. While we waited for our pair to resurface, we were very briefly given looks at a small group of Atlantic white-sided dolphins! It's been almost a month since we've had the chance to see these toothed whales so to say we were excited would be an understatement.

Atlantic White-sided Dolphins

Fan Diving

After getting our last looks at the humpback whales, we did just a bit more exploring before coming across a fin whale travelling through the area!

We spent a few surfacing's with this whale, getting excellent looks before we had to make our way back towards Rye.

Saturday afternoon began with us venturing offshore back to where we had luck with whales in the morning. Once we returned to the area, we got very brief looks at a minke whale before spotting some distant blows. As we approached the whales, we were greeted by a trio of humpbacks, Valley, Fan, and Spika! 

Fan diving

These whales were initially spending a fair amount beneath the surface, but that all changed when two of our whales unexpectedly lunged vertically next to the boat, captured fish and saltwater in their mouths. I was unfortunately unable to pull my camera fast enough to get much more than just the aftermath. 

Humpback whales crashing at the surface

Humpbacks travelling

We eventually pressed on to do just a bit more searching, before getting quick looks at another distant humpback, Quote, before continuing back towards Rye.

Sunday morning was a no-go due to high winds and rough seas, but the forecast called for the weather to calm down a bit, so we gave it a shot in the afternoon, and I'm very glad we did! Our trip began its first sighting as we were passing through the Isles of Shoals with amazing looks at an Atlantic Puffin!

Puffin at rest

Puffin in motion

Definitely not a species of bird we get the chance to see on the regular, so always a welcome treat when they do make an appearance. We left our fancy bird to press on in search of animals that are just a bit larger. The swell and chop was most definitely still present, but we didn't let that stop us from reaching our goal. Our whale sightings began with Owl the humpback whale as she was very active, feeding just beneath or at the surface.

Humpback whale, Owl

We eventually saw a distant pair of whales, so we said goodbye to Owl to see who else might be spending time in this area. Upon arrival, our pair of whales turned into Valley and Fan! Great to see these whales still travelling together after seeing them both on Saturday's trips. 

Valley diving

While watching this pair, more whales began moving into the area, as we also were able to identify two more humpbacks, Quote and Spika. We spent as much time as we could with these whales before we had to return home, thankfully, with a much smoother ride back in.