Thursday, June 18

This morning we began heading back to where we had seen whales yesterday until we got word from one of our fishing friends. They had spotted a whale. We altered course and soon saw that tell-tale sign of a whale spout. It was a Humpback whale on the move.

Whale tail

It did not take long to figure out who it was. This whale has a very unique dorsal fin and the tail pattern made for an easy match. Sedge was back in the area!

Sedge's dorsal fin

It has been 13 days since we last saw this whale on Jeffreys Ledge. We did hear this whale was seen on June 8th on the northern edges of the Ledge (by an offshore fishing vessel) but, other than that, this whale's movements has remained a mystery to us since our last sighting. Who knows where this whale has been; maybe other areas of Jeffreys Ledge that we have not been near or perhaps even far off feeding grounds. Nonetheless, it was certainly great to see this whale back in the area.

Sedge

Along with Sedge we also watched a Minke whale moving around the outskirts of this area. Our travels then included attempting to get a quick look at a Fin whale we had seen out in the distance but this whale apparently was not interested in being watched. We spotted another Minke whale on our way home and a few harbor porpoise to wrap up our morning trip. This afternoon the wind and seas kicked up as we headed out to where we had seen Sedge this morning. We were unable to find Sedge but we did check out one of the two Minke whales we spotted nearby.

Minke whale on the move

From there it became a never-ending game. We managed to find ourselves with the constant disappearing act of Minke whales. We would find one Minke whale after another (4 to be exact) but each time we stopped to spend some time with one of our sightings they would disappear with no fail. Nature certainly made things a bit challenging but that is what we do. We go searching for wildlife; animals we cannot control. Instead, we get the opportunity to catch quick glimpses of these amazing whales and see what they decide is in store for us on any given day.

Wednesday, June 17

We did a lot of searching this morning around the Jeffreys Ledge area and eventually our efforts paid off as we got some really nice looks at 3 Minke whales. Our first Minke whale sighting was exciting as this is a whale we saw during our 2011 whale watching season as well!

Minke whale

As our sightings continued, the ocean conditions got nicer and nicer and we got some really great looks at our whales.

Minke whale surfacing

Beautiful calm conditions made for perfect conditions to watch whales

Fin-less Minke whale on our travels home this morning spotted inside the Isles of Shoals

This afternoon we saw 2 Minke whales scooting around as well as a Fin whale. Our large Fin whale (Fin whales are the second largest animals on Earth so these whales really ARE huge) was darting here, there and everywhere. Attempting to keep up with one of the second fastest of the baleen whales in a bit of a chaotic pattern took quite a bit of patience. After some time checking out one of our Minke whales while our Fin whale scurried about we were lucky enough to get some very impressive looks.

Afternoon Minke whale

Fin whale spout

It wasn't until we were checking out our photos on the ride home that we realized this Fin whale was quite a familiar whale. It was Ladder, a Fin whale first sighted by our friends Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation in 1996! What a nice surprise to wrap up our day with out on the open ocean.

Ladder's dorsal fin

Tuesday, June 16

Kudos to our passengers today who worked as hard as we did searching for, spotting and relocating our whales as the fog took its time burning off this morning. Our day included finding whales, losing those whales in the fog and then finding them once again with a bit of patient and some great spotting eyes. We got a chance to see two Minke whales and a mother and calf Fin whale pair; our first for the 2015 season!

Massive mama Fin whale and her calf

Dorsal fins of our Fin whale pair

The weather and whales continue to keep us on our toes so we shall see what exciting factors we will be dealing with on our next trip!

Sunday, June 14

This morning we saw 2 Minke whales and ended up seeing 3 completely different ones this afternoon. If you ever thought all Minke whales look the same check out our photos below to see just how different they really are. We can use the shape of a Minke whale's dorsal fin to tell these mammals apart from one another. Here are all our fins from today:

Like this whale, sometimes it is the lack of dorsal fin we can use to tell Minke whales apart from each other

Friday, June 12

Guess who we found this morning? Our very familiar fin-less Minke whale less than 5 miles from land! Our morning school trip got a chance to check out this unique looking Minke whale and provided a great opportunity to remind us how dangerous the ocean can be to whales; all because of humans. This whale has propeller marks visible on its body, an indication that this whale was hit by a boat at some point during this its life.

Lack-of-dorsal-fin Minke whale swimming from left to right. If you look toward the left part of this whale's body you can see the indentations of a prior boat propeller incident.

We are of course extremely grateful this whale survived this incident and while we do not know how/why this whale lost its dorsal fin we are always happy to see a familiar whale in the area especially when you keep in mind not all whales survive these human-related interactions.  Further offshore we also got to check out our first sighting of an Ocean Sunfish for the year. Definitely a fun fish to see.

Ocean Sunfish swimming towards us

Ocean sunfish

This afternoon we decided to check out some other areas of Jeffreys Ledge where whales are known to spend time. While we did a lot of searching we came up empty-handed for any whale activity. We did however get a chance to swing by Boon Island during our travels and take a look at some Harbor seals on the rocks around this island this afternoon.

Seals hauled out on the rocks at Boon Island (above and below)

Wednesday, June 10

This morning we had our school group from Canaan, NH join us for their annual whale watching experience. It took some time, and a lot of searching, but eventually we saw two Minke whales and got some nice looks this morning. Thanks to all for being patient and enthusiastic about wildlife!

Minke whale nostrils

Morning Minke whale

This afternoon we went searching for our whales of the morning and unfortunately were unable to find either one of them. Who knew we were going to find a Minke whale about a mile from Rye Harbor on our travels home. To make it even more amazing it was a very familiar whale. This Minke whale has no dorsal fin and with a large white scar in place of where its dorsal fin should reside there is no mistaking this whale. We are thrilled to have this whale back this season; a whale we have been seeing around the area since 2012. Granted, just like many sightings of this particular whale, it disappeared almost as soon as it was spotted. And ultimately, as we do on any given trip, we will wait to see what, where and when we find whales next time.

Sunday, June 7

After our trip yesterday of not seeing any whales we were hopeful that today would be better. We were once again surrounded by absolutely pristine conditions and we were ready to find some whales this time around. Before we even got to the Isles of Shoals a Minke whale surfaced. Unfortunately, that was the only time we saw this whale. We decided it was time to head offshore and hope for some better luck. In total we saw 4 Minke whales and got some great looks at most of them.

Minke whale

Nose and head of a Minke whale surfacing for a breath of air

Another Minke whale

While the weekend provided a lot of searching you could not have asked for better weather conditions surrounding us. Who knows what is in store for us this week but just as the whales appeared to be a bit elusive recently they could equally be as noticeable in the future and we look forward to finding out.