Thursday, August 6

Today was another beautiful day to be on the Atlantic Ocean. Minimal wind and great visibility meant we had ideal conditions to search for some wildlife. This morning we came into an area where there was so much to look at within such a specific region. We saw a spout, which turned into two (2 Humpback whales that is!), followed by an Ocean sunfish just in front of us and then suddenly at least 3 Minke whales around us.

Morning Ocean sunfish

At one point we had a Humpback whale circling off our port side and a Minke whale passing by us on our starboard side. The boat was in the center of a marine life sandwich! Definitely a great position to be in.

Minke whale

We were able to get some fantastic looks at all our sightings as the whales seemed to consistently maneuver around this concentrated area.

Humpback whale

Our Humpback whales were #0050 and Quill and we even saw Scar Minke pass by at one point!

Humpback whale #0050

Scar Minke was one of the many whales seen moving around such a specific area of the ocean this morning

This afternoon we started our trip with an Ocean sunfish before having 3 Minke whales traveling around the boat.

Afternoon Ocean sunfish swimming along

Minke whale just beyond the Isles of Shoals

Ever wonder how we tell one Minke whale apart from another? Check out the photos below to see just how different each dorsal fin of a Minke whale can be. Hint: Each photo is of a different Minke whale seen today!

Eventually we left this area only to come across another area where we had two more Minke whales moving around. A few times these whales appeared to move in close to one another before separating, only to once again circle in towards each other a few minutes later. Just think, of all the movements we see of whales at the surface there is still a whole other world the whales are moving in, assessing with and maneuvering around, below the waterline. One of our Minke whales in this pair decided to circle around us for a bit as we sat there with our engines shut off watching this whale swim up one side of the boat and down the other multiple times. Nature certainly has a way of putting us in awe.

Minke whale surfacing close to the boat as it circled around us!

From there we still had more whales to see as we ended up seeing a total of 8 Minke whales and 2 Humpback whales this afternoon.

Humpback whale

Our Humpback whales were #0050 and Quill again as we were lucky to have both of these whales continuing to spend time off the coast of NH today. Multiple times too we saw clouds of bubbles breaking the surface from our Humpback whales, a feeding mechanism these whales use to catch their food!

#0050

Quill

Remnant of a bubble cloud just off the side of the boat

It was certainly a day where the weather and the whales were hand in hand, each as incredibly beautiful and memorable as the other.

Mother Nature about as perfect as could be today

Wednesday, August 5

Today was phenomenal in every way possible. Great weather, multiple species of whales and some great looks at those whales which is what we always wish for each day. This morning we had a grand slam of species; all four of the most commonly seen whales all in one trip! We had 2 Humpback whales, a trio of Fin whales on the move together, a group of 12-15 Atlantic white-sided dolphins initially associated with our trio of Fin whales, 6 Minke whales and even two Ocean sunfish. Our trip started this morning with a Humpback whale that does not have a name but instead a number pattern that is associated with it. All in all, there was so much wildlife to view!

Humpback whale #0050

Humpback whale tail

Atlantic white-sided dolphins

Two of the three Fin whales moving through the water together

Fin whales side-by-side

Morning Minke whale

Ocean sunfish

This afternoon we were still seeing different whales as we started with one of the 4 Minke whales seen throughout our travels, 5 Fin whales including a pair and the same trio we spent time with this morning (in a completely different location. Remember whales have tails and can definitely use them as they continuously move around!), and finally 2 Humpback whales.

Afternoon Minke whale

This whale was one of our pair of whales this afternoon and it was such a great find, Dingle again!

Large Fin whale body

Fin whale chevron

Quill the Humpback whale

So much to look at and enjoy today. Who knows what we may see, or not see tomorrow but, it most certainly was a nice day to be surrounded by some incredible marine life.

Monday, August 3

The waves continued to build as the wind continued to blow over the course of our trips today. For some, these conditions were quite the adventure all on their own. As for the whales, this morning we ended up in an area where we had 4 Humpback whales on the move. We could see spouts around us and got some nice looks at a few of the whales that were spending a bit more time at the surface. We got a quick look at Bayou before seeing Wy steadily plugging along.

Wy the Humpback whale

Humpback whale spout

This afternoon we first started with a Minke whale being quite active. The first time this whale was seen was when it decided to jump clear out of the water! This whale breached a few more times before it decided to instead almost porpoise through the ocean, creating plenty of whitewater each time it got a breath of air!

Whitewater galore as this Minke whale darted through the waves

Our active Minke whale appeared to sometimes "surf" down the waves

We passed this whale off to our other whale watching friends and moved along to yet another Minke whale in the area. We got a few very nice looks at this whale when it suddenly decided to surface right next to our boat for a few moments in time. Great sight!

Second Minke whale

We ended our time on the water with two more whales but this time it was a pair of the second largest animals on Earth; Fin whales! While these whales seemed to continually surface in a different direction we managed to get some nice looks at these massive mammals.

Our Fin whales, at one point, swam right underneath us. Granted they were about 150ft below us but you can see we picked them up on our depth-finder (we were in 250ft of water and the horizontal blobs are the two whales!)

After a few glances at our photos we were even able to identify both of these whales. One whale was first sighted in 2009 while the other was a VERY familiar fin...Dingle!

Our Fin whale pair at the surface

We have yet to have the opportunity to see Dingle this year so we are thrilled to know this whale is back in the area for another feeding season. Welcome back to Jeffreys Dingle!

Dingle!

Sunday, August 2

This morning the ocean conditions were favorable to do some searching offshore. We started with 10-12 Atlantic white-sided dolphins and an Ocean sunfish before heading a few more miles to the east as we could see whale spouts out in the distance.

A couple of dolphins cruising through the water

Ocean sunfish

Along with the 5 Minke whales we saw throughout our travels we had at least 8 Humpbacks moving all around. Some of these whales were spending quite a bit of time below the waterline. Some were even grouping up and separating each time they surfaced. We were able to check out a few of these whales including Draco, Raccoon, Samara, Bayou and Pinball.

Draco

Raccoon

Pinball was consistently spending more time at the surface so we slowly made our way towards her. A couple times, as she circled around the area, she even created a few bubble clouds.

Pinball swimming towards us

Pinball and her "big-wings"

This afternoon, as the wind churned up the open ocean, we started with 3 Minke whales. A couple of these whales were moseying through the area giving us a great opportunity to check them out.

Minke whale

Soon we were seeing multiple spouts on either side of the boat. We started with a single Fin whale before spending time with a pair of Fin whales. Our pair was a mother and her calf, a duo we have come across a handful of times this season. We are always fans of whales spending time in our small section of the Atlantic Ocean watching some incredible wildlife.

Fin whale spout

Fin whale mom

Fin whale mom (right) and calf (left) pair

Saturday, August 1

Happy August!


Today we had two very fun and very different trips!

This morning we started off strong with a large pod of Atlantic white sided dolphins. These animals were really fun to watch as they came right up to the boat and even leaped out of the water multiple times! It has been a while since I’ve seen a pod of dolphins this active!! The pod included mothers with small calves, juveniles and adult males. The dolphins have been pretty rare this summer so this was a very welcomed sighting. 

Next we got a few looks at a minke whale, and then found a humpback whale. This was Quill, who has been seen several times recently. Quill seemed to be pretty busy, and was moving around quite a bit but we did manage to see his flukes a couple of times!  As we watched Quill, a blue shark and another minke whale swam by. 

Minke

Minke

Then we spotted another blow nearby. This was a fin whale!  Fin whales are enormous and as we watched this one, we saw 2 more traveling together in the area. One of this pair was identified as #0902, a whale first seen in 2009.

Some of our sharp-eyed passengers also got a quick passing look at an ocean sunfish as we made our way back to port.

This afternoon, we headed further east based on a report from some boats up on the northern part of Jeffreys Ledge.  As we headed to the reported location, we came upon a mother fin whale and her calf!! Fin whale calves are often curious and this one was no exception. As the mom went off to feed, the calf rolled around and spent more time swimming upside down than right side up! Then it started to almost breach out of the water- porpoising and coming up pretty far out of the water! This was so much fun to watch!! As I looked at my photos, I realized why the calf looked familiar. The mother was one of our favorites, Comet, and her active calf! We have seen them a couple times prior this summer and the calf, which is quite large for its age, had been pretty wiggly then! 

Comet

Comet's calf

Comet's calf charging

Comet's calf on its side

 As a few whale watch boats came in to check out this pair, we continued on and found several humpback whales a bit further to the east. The first was Sedge, who did a bit of tail lobbing and even a tail-breach!  

Sedge

 Next we found Tornado, and then Hornbill!!  

Hornbill

 The whales were pretty spread out, with even  more spouts seen in the distance.  A couple of minke whales were scooting around the area too. We had to travel a bit further than the other boats, but it was well worth the ride!