Wednesday September 11

Geez, Mother Nature is doing a great job reminding us that summer is still not over! Hot, hot temperatures made for hopping on a boat a great idea to sneak away from the humidity on land today. We dealt with a bit of fog at the start of the trip but ended up breaking free of it further offshore. More visibility and just a bit of wind made looking for whales much more feasible than the fog we initially encountered after leaving the harbor. 11 Minkes and 2 Humpback whales were around as we spent time around Jeffreys Ledge today. Most of the Minke whales were darting around as they were probably in search of lots of whale food; small schooling fish! 

One of the many Minke whales seen popping up all around us

Our Humpback whales on the other hand were the complete opposite. These two whales were super relaxed. So relaxed they were napping! No matter the time of day when a 20+ ton whale wants to sleep, it stops and sleeps. 

Patches and Victim hover at the surface of the ocean; a great indication these whales are getting some rest

These whales remained extremely stationary, bobbing up and down in the water, as the whales, and us, sat there watching them rest. Since the whales were far from exerting energy and swimming in various directions we instead got some incredible looks at their large bodies just below the surface of the ocean. It was a great day to enjoy nature in such a calm and relaxed manor.

Check out the large flipper from our Humpback whales. The green sheen you see are the whales' giant white flippers (they only appear green because of all the plant matter/algae that makes up the base of the food chain in the ocean!)

Victim taking a breath of air as Patches goes on a dive

Saturday September 7

Jeffreys Ledge had no shortage of whales today. Both trips included Humpback whales, Minke whales, and even one of the second largest animals in the world this afternoon!

Our morning trip started off with a few Humpback whales moving around. We got the chance to spend time with Pepper just moseying around the area before spotting Patches out in the distance.

A nice way to start the day with a "rainbow-blow" from Pepper

Neither of these Humpback whales were moving in any particular direction quickly which allowed for some great whale gazing to start the day with today.

Pepper

Patches

Soon we were seeing more spouts in the distance. There were two other Humpback whales in the area! Turned out it was Chablis and Piña. This duo had been seen with each other during yesterday's trip; what fun to see both whales still on Jeffreys Ledge.

Piña in the foreground moving in synchrony with Chablis

Piña

For the most part these two whales spent most of their time napping at the surface but we were fortunate enough to see Chablis flipper slap at one point. Boy oh boy are those flippers large! 

Chablis rolling over while Piña continues to be close by

Chablis' flipper!

After leaving this pair and doing some more searching we ended up getting the chance to watch a Minke whale swim right along side us. This whale was just coasting nearby giving us some great looks as we ended up seeing 5 Minke whales in total this morning.

Minke on the move

This afternoon we were shocked to learn a Fin whale had been seen recently. This whale was on the move, and not just in any direction, directly to the West (straight in towards land)! We were lucky to grab a couple good looks at this enormous species before it ventured off in the direction we had been coming from.

Fin whale in the area (above and below)

Once again further offshore we ended up spending time with the same 4 Humpback whales we had seen during our morning travels. However, this time 3 of the 4 were all swimming in tandem! 

Piña and Pepper

Pepper, Chablis and Piña were side by side. Seeing two whales maneuver through the water together is impressive, seeing three is even more amazing. 

Humpback whale trio: Pepper, Chablis and Piña

Piña napping at the surface while Chablis brings its large flipper high above the water (and brings some other human onlookers into the area)

Chablis

With some nice time spent with this group we knew it was time for us to proceed on and let the whales continue with their movements in a different direction. We headed over to an area where we had originally seen a spout, prior to heading to the trio, and came across a lone Humpback whale; Patches!

Patches

This whale was still nearby but was instead content in moving around on its own. While in the area with Patches we ended up having a few different Minke whales surface nearby as well. We ultimately ended up seeing 7 Minke whales during the entire afternoon trip as these whales continued to dart around the area as we explored Jeffreys Ledge today. On our way home we were privy to one last look at a couple of Humpback whales as our travels crossed paths with their movements. The trio had split apart as we watched Piña and Chablis move off together.

Chablis' tail and Piña as we passed by this now duo on the way home

Whales together, separate, napping, flipper slapping, or just plain old breathing is still a spectacular way to witness some incredible wildlife. Thanks to all the whales for allowing us to watch you just go about your day today!

Friday September 6

A few familiar whales continue to spend time on Jeffreys Ledge as we were once again lucky enough to see Piña and Pepper in our area today. But today they were not swimming around with each other. Instead these Humpback whales were with other individuals. Pepper was moving around with Patches, and Piña was close by Chablis during our trip today. This is the first time we have gotten the chance to see both Patches and Chablis in our area this season!

Welcome back to Jeffreys Ledge Patches!

What a surprise to find a few of our whales still around, and a few more in the area! Today was even more unexpected as some of the whales were showcasing quite the behaviors. We had Patches, the "perpetual pooper" and Chablis the constant "flipper slapper" of the day. Almost every single time Patches was at the surface this whale would leave a colored cloud near the surface. Whale defecation was being noticed almost after each time this whale came up to the surface. These clouds are a great indication that Patches has recently been eating, perhaps a lot, based on how often this whale was creating clouds. The clouds ranged from brown (mostly digested schooling fish) but also left a few red/brown clouds (perhaps a mixture of krill and fish) multiple times!

Chablis on the other hand spent most of its time flipper slapping as this whale was swimming side by side Piña today. 

Chablis spending more time on its side than any other position today

Interestingly enough most of the time Chablis was creating such the loud smack from each flipper flopping down on the water (keep in mind each flipper can easily reach 15ft in length and weigh one ton each!), Piña would appear to nap alongside this other active whale. One whale continued to appear to be so relaxed while the other was rolling left and right, and even belly up multiple times! What a interesting comparison of whale behaviors just feet away from each other. 

Chablis' flippers high in the sky (and belly up!) while Piña remains stationary next to Chablis (you can see Piña's dorsal fin just in front of Chablis' flippers)

More of Chablis' flipper and Piña still sleeping

Eventually we saw Piña flick her tail above the water, perhaps attempting to get Chablis to quit the flipper slapping going on so close to her or just finally waking up from all her naps this afternoon

Regardless of the activity we got some incredible looks at all our whales as even Patches rolled over on its side and flipper slapped nearby for all to see. 

Patches (above and below) as this whale rolled on its side close by (so much so you can even make out Patches' eye seen just to the right of its white flipper!)

Along with 7 Minke whales seen during our travels and some familiar whales moving into the area it most certainly was another great day to be on the water!

Minke whale passing on through the area

Flippers high above the waterline never gets old especially when multiple whales are around to truly visualize just how large these whales are

Wednesday September 4

The unofficial end of summer may have come and gone (Labor Day that is) but Mother Nature certainly did a great job reminding us the true end of summer is still a few weeks away. Warm temperatures, plenty of sunshine and the wind calming itself down made for a pleasant day on the water. Add in some very nice whale sightings and we couldn't have asked for anything more. We started our trip on a few uncooperative Minke whales. These whales would surface for only a breath or two before disappearing for a while under the water. Darting all around and not being able to predict the sporadic directions of these whales we decided to head further offshore in hopes of coming across different whales that were spending more time on the surface. Low and behold we ended up finding just that. Two Humpback whales were spending time alongside each other. Who were they? Pepper and Piña! 

Pepper

Piña

These whales were seen three days ago in a completely differently location than where they were today. Who knows if the two of them have continued to be associated with each other since their last sighting but they were side by side each other the entire time we spent watching these two adult female whales today.

Piña and Pepper swimming next to each other

Piña spent most of the time napping but a few times contorted her body into a few different arches. What a opportunity to see so much of a whale's body. Sometimes even from the tip of her snout to the tip of her tail!



Piña arching her body to showcase her snout and back half of her body; what a large whale!

Piña once again maneuvering her body to bring her nose/snout and tip of her tail above the waterline

We got some incredible looks at these two whales before venturing off to look for other whale activity. 

One of our Humpback whales swims just in front of the boat

We ended up coming across another Minke whale which ended up swimming right alongside us for a bit! 

Minke whale

In total we saw 5 Minke whales throughout our travels, managing to get some good looks at some more than others. Thanks to the whales and Mother Nature for another fantastic day with wildlife!


Pepper's tail while Piña remains swimming (and breathing) at the surface

Sunday September 1

Happy September everyone! Today was full of surprises and that does not include the sudden rain showers, sunshine, and even fog we dealt with throughout our trips today. This morning we started the day with 3 Minke whales. All of these whales were darting around each other and showing up in all directions around the boat.

Two of our three Minke whales this morning (above and below)

We were enjoying some nice looks at these whales when we heard news on the radio from some whale watching boats out of Gloucester that there were a couple of Humpback whales near Jeffreys Ledge. We figured we had to try our luck and see if maybe, just maybe, we too could check out some other species of whales during our morning adventure. Little did we know en route to the report we would come across some toothed-whales. And not just one type of toothed-whales, we had two species moving together in one pod! A group of ~40 Atlantic white-sided dolphins were moving around. 

Atlantic white-sided dolphins passing down the side of the boat

More white-sided dolphins

As we cruised on into the area and spent some time with these whales it wasn't until I caught a glimpse of one of the dolphins surface right tight to the boat did something look odd. The shading pattern seen on this particular whale was much different that the solid stripe from a white-sided dolphin. It was only until I looked almost straight down a few minutes later, and saw the same thing, did I realize there were 4-5 Common dolphin interspersed within this group! The few occasions we have be fortunate enough to see Common dolphins (which are not common for us in this area!) they always tend to literally stay just under the pulpit. Low and behold as our crew verified there they were, a small pod of Common dolphins, spending time within the larger pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins. Unfortunately I was not able to capture a picture of the Common species but for those folks who stood at the front of the boat and stared down into the water you could watch the amazing maneuverability of all the dolphins surrounding us. Soon we were back underway heading to the whale report we had heard earlier. Indeed we got the chance to spend time with 2 Humpback whales; a mother and her calf to be exact! Clipper and her calf were on Jeffreys Ledge. 

Clipper and her calf!

These two whales have been seen for the majority of the summer off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada so it was quite the surprise to see these whales here in our neck of the Gulf of Maine. It was even more of a surprise to watch the calf and its ever-changing behaviors. It went from napping, to tail breaching, to mini-lobtailing, to eventually nursing all while Clipper just idled nearby. What a special treat and a great way to wrap up our morning.

Tail breach from Clipper's calf





The aftermath of a tail breach; and all that white water was created from just a calf!

Clipper's calf flicking it's tail above the ocean

Clipper in the background as her calf continues to create white water nearby

This afternoon we were ready to head back to search for Clipper and her calf when we learned not only had some fog rolled in but different Humpback whales had been found. Two more Humpback whales were spending some time on Jeffreys Ledge. This time we got the chance to spend time with Pina and Pepper, mainly napping, nearby. 

Pina and Pepper on Jeffreys Ledge

This is the first time either of these whales have been spotted on Jeffreys Ledge this season so it was yet another wonderful surprise to witness. 

Pina's tail

Pepper's unique black and white coloration found on its tail

We also caught a quick look at a Blue shark offshore before heading back to Rye Harbor only to see a Grey seal munching on some fish just beyond the dock! 

Blue shark on the move (you can just make out the tip of this shark's tail breaking the surface on the right side of this photo)



Grey seal (above and below) eating some evening fish snacks inside Rye Harbor

Who knows what tomorrow will bring but either way we hope you all have a wonderful rest of your holiday weekend!