Wednesday June 11

We may not have seen the sun throughout the whole trip today but the seas were once again in our favor as it was flat as flat calm as it could be again today. Just perfect condition for whale watching. Our first stop of the day was a Minke whale as we headed out towards Jeffreys Ledge. But this wasn't just any old Minke whale. It was Scar Minke, a whale that was photographed aboard the Granite State in 1995 (due to the dedication and fascination of whales in the area even years ago)! This whale has been known to spend time in our area for 19 years!!!

This Minke whale is the most documented Minke whale seen on Jeffreys Ledge. Great to see you again Scar Minke!

That amount of time, almost two decades, is quite impressive for a species of whale that can be tricky to get looks at. What a phenomenal way to start our trip with today.

You can really see the large indentation just in front of this Minke whale's dorsal fin. This whale has looked like this ever since it was first seen in 1995 so whatever the impact this whale encountered years ago we are thrilled to know it is still doing well

We then made our way to the Ledge and spent some time with a single Fin whale. This whale was spending a bit of time in the depths of the ocean but managed to get some very nice looks as this whale eventually slowed down a bit.

Fin whale about to go on a dive

Fin whale body and dorsal fin

We headed a bit further offshore before we knew we'd be out of time for further exploration and saw a pair of spouts out in the distance. Soon we were watching a pair of Fin whales on the move together. And then it got even better. Low and behold who did we have swimming alongside us? It was another VERY familiar whale. Ladder the Fin whale is back on Jeffreys Ledge!!!!! This whale was first seen in the Gulf of Maine in 1984, meaning this whale is at least 30 years old and is very much a regular to Jeffreys Ledge. On top of that this whale is almost always seen swimming with another Fin whale, even though this species as a whole are known to be solitare animals.

Ladder the Fin whale (with its scar visible forward of its dorsal fin) while its "friend" breaks the surface in the foreground

The other Fin whale, or "friend," Ladder was swimming around with

Some incredible sightings with incredible conditions made for quite the treat whale watching today.

Fin whale spouts on the flat calm ocan

Saturday, June 14

After days of wind and rain, the weather finally cooperated and we were rewarded for our patience! The whales on Jeffreys Ledge were a bit elusive but thanks to our eagle-eyed crew, we found a total of 3 minke whales and 2 fin whales!

Our first minke was incredibly cooperative, at first anyway. We followed it for multiple breaths and got to see its pointed rostrum and white flipper patches! Then it dove, and disappeared! Minkes sometimes give us the slip and that was the case today.

Minke Whale

Next we meandered over to an area where our crew had spotted a larger whale while we were spending time with our 2nd minke.  Before we knew it, we had 2 fin whales with us! One fin whale head off to the east, but the other stuck around. I'm always impressed by a fin whale's size and grace. This one was being "low-profile", or only showing a little bit of its back when coming up for a breath.

Stealthy fin whale

 But then the whale surprised us and came up really close by!

Spout!

Diving fin whale

Before we knew it, it was time to head for home. We passed another minke whale and had a nice calm trip back to Rye Harbor. For our birding friends, the pelagic birds were the best of the year so far with lots of fulmars (including some dark morphs!), several great shearwaters, gannets and Wilson's storm petrels! Thanks for joining us today!

Tuesday June 10

Our trip today included looks at the second largest shark and mammal in the world! We started our day with a great look at a Basking shark. Seeing sharks are always fun but when you have a boat full of school kids it is even that much more exciting! Nothing like getting kids excited about being on the ocean with a sighting of such a large fish!

Our Basking shark getting closer and closer to the boat! (above and below)

We then continued further offshore and got some looks at another massive creature, a Fin whale! We spent some time with this whale before checking out another one not too far away from us.

Fin whale

We have seen this same Fin whale over the course of the last few days. So great this whale is still spending time in the area!

A little fog didn't deter us from our offshore excursion and before heading home we got some great looks at a pair of Fin whales. To our enjoyment it turned out one of the whales in this pair was actually the first animal we stopped to get a look at today!

Two massive Fin whales moving through the water together (above and below)

Within such a short period of time this whale had decided to join up and maneuver through the water with another Fin whale that we have no idea where it came from! Whales can change up their behavior at any point in time and today was no exception. What a great way to end our time out on Jeffreys Ledge!

The second Fin whale of the pair we ended our day with

Monday June 9

Our daily trips have begun and so we were off towards Jeffreys Ledge this afternoon. We got the chance to see 5 Fin whales during our travels today. We first came into an area where 3 Fin whales were moving around.

First Fin whale we spent time with today

We got some very nice looks at two of these whales as they continued to circle around and often times would slightly relocate themselves whenever they surfaced.

Fin whale's chevron seen as this whale swam past the boat

Such a long sleek body of a Fin whale

With some nice looks we continued on and ended up finding a bit of a "shy" Fin whale that was not spending much time at the surface at all. Soon it was time to head home but we had one more sighting waiting for us as we traveled back towards Rye Harbor. Miles inside of Jeffreys Ledge another Fin whale was spotted. This whale took a good handful of breaths at the surface allowing for us to make our way towards this whale, snap a couple of photos to document the sighting, and then continue on back towards home. What a nice way to end our day.

Final Fin whale of the day

Saturday June 7

Apologies for the delayed posting! What a beautiful calm day on the ocean! Saturday we found ourselves in the midst of at least 8-10 fin whales on Jeffreys Ledge!  It was one of those days where we could shut the boat down and have whales surfacing all around us.  Often times, we would hear the spouts from nearly a mile away!

After seeing our first spout in the distance, we maneuvered in that direction and before long we saw spout after spout in all directions.  Capt Pete was patient. Instead of bouncing back and forth between all the spouts we were seeing, he just sat still and let the whales come to us.  At first, we had a single fin whale swim by. Then a pair of fin whales were cruising around, possibly chasing schools of fish.

Fin whale cruising by

Then we spotted what we were sure was a mom/calf pair of fin whales! As we slowly moved close, they disappeared, but then a single adult came right up near us and crossed right in front of our bow!  Incredible looks at fin whale #0813!!

Fin whale #0813's white lower jaw, blowholes and chevron

Fin whale 0813's unique dorsal fin with 2 notches

As we continued to wait for the mom and calf to surface together, we were surprised by just the calf hanging out at the surface! The little whale (25+ feet!) rolled on its side, lifted its head up high and repeatedly swam up to our boat!! It is certainly not every day that we are allowed to "babysit" a baby whale while mom is busy feeding!  Eventually, mom resurfaced and we then realized that the mom was indeed #0813, the whale that checked us out only minutes before the calf did!

Fin whale calf coming in to check us out!

Fin whale 0813 and her calf reunited!

What a spectacular day!  We also got looks at fin whales named Crow and Bolshoi as well as several others in the distance.
Thanks again to everyone for joining us and for supporting Blue Ocean Society's mission by contributing to their research and conservation efforts.  As we mentioned, ALL the research images taken by me today are available for sale via a DVD or downloadable link!

Sunday June 8

Well it is World Oceans Day today and there doesn't seem to be a better way than to celebrate the day with a whale watch. Add in flat calm ocean conditions and you have yourself one of the most perfect days out on the water! Today we got the chance to see 4 Minke whales, 5 Fin whales and our first sighting of a Basking shark this season! On our way offshore we even had an unexpected sighting...

A cropped photo of a submarine on its way towards land; gotta stay far enough away from these guys!

The gorgeous conditions made for incredible conditions to see into the water to gain an even greater appreciation of the size and sleekness of everything we spent time with today.

Our first whale of the day, a Minke whale

Once we got to Jeffreys Ledge we were very excited when we stopped on our first Fin whale. It was #0802, a known female. Most of our whales today were just circling around the area giving us the chance to get some spectacular looks at a few of the second largest whales in the world.

 Fin whale #0802

Such fantastic conditions for watching whales today!

Not far from this whale was another Fin whale. Once we made our way over to this other whale our excitement continued to grow as it was a whale that is quite the fan favorite for us on the Granite State: Crow the Fin whale!

Crow!!!

This whale was first documented in the Gulf of Maine in 1987 making this animal at least 27 years old.

Check out the look we got as Crow came up to the surface at one point. Can to spot his flippers in the photos above and below?

Wow!

We checked out a few other Fin whales on the move before we needed to head for home including this whale below, as it cruised right alongside us.

Another one of our Fin whales of the day

On the way home low and behold while we were less than 6 miles from home (we were already inside the Isles of Shoals!) there was a massive dorsal fin at the surface. It was a Basking shark! Our first Basking shark for the 2014 season and so close to home! We couldn't pass up the chance to check this creature out and we were certainly glad we did. This shark had no problem with us slowly moving up near it. So much so that at one point while we idled nearby the shark swam right in towards us giving all of our passengers a good look at just how large one of the second largest sharks in the world can really be.

Incoming Basking shark!

The head of this Basking shark with its dorsal fin just barely above the water

What a fantastic day out on the water with some incredible looks at all kinds of marine life including the second largest mammal and the second largest shark in the world!

Happy June!

With barely no wind to speak of (though for some, a swell that was a bit challenging at times) it was otherwise a sunny gorgeous day out on Jeffreys Ledge today. The whales were just as fabulous as we got the opportunity to end up in an area where there were 4 Fin whales scooting around. We ended up getting some incredible looks at specifically two of the four whales around. These massive creatures would slip below the surface of the ocean only to resurface close enough, and take plenty of breaths, resulting in us having the chance to coast right alongside these ginormous whales! Most of our quality time was spent with Fin whale #9709, an adult female.

Fin whale #9709 in the super calm water on Jeffreys Ledge

She would move from one spot to another and then just as quickly slow down for a while. With the flat calm ocean surface you could watch as she would glide up from the depths of the ocean to get a breath of air.

What a "fin"tastic look at #9709 and her white lower jaw as she swims through the water

While we were spending some time watching #9709 suddenly another whale appeared right next to this adult female. There had been some other whales in the area also circling around and we are pretty sure this other whale had cruised into the area via further offshore. Soon we were getting some equally amazing looks at this other Fin whale as well.

A wonderful surprise having this other Fin whale appear right next to us at one point!

What a great way to spend the first day of June. Many thanks to all who joined us today especially our Brownie Girl Scout Troop and Willy, who chose to celebrate his birthday with some of the second largest creatures on earth!