Friday, July 7

This morning, the fog was pretty thick with no chance of lifting early so we stayed in the harbor.  But by the afternoon, the clouds lifted and gave us great visibility, even though we encountered a few sprinkles. We started out with a quick glimpse of a harbor porpoise, and then found several minke whales. 

Minke whale

A basking shark showed itself briefly before we headed a bit further out. There we came upon a group of small boats fishing for bluefin tuna, and in the midst of the tuna boats, we saw several minke whales and a humpback whale.

This was no ordinary humpback, but one of our favories, Pinball. We watched as she came up, pleats extended, mouth filled with seawater and fish. While we waited for Pinball to resurface, several minke whale darted around, keeping us occupied. 

Pinball

We even saw a couple of harbor seals, one of which was napping, and the other had a fish and trying to keep its catch away from the gulls. All sorts of entertainment out there!


 

Thursday, July 6

This morning we certainly needed to pack our patience. We saw multiple minke whales and even a couple of fin whales but every time we stopped to watch these whales they couldn't have been more uncooperative! These wild animals blatantly reminded us we have no control of their movements and/or behaviors. After lots of searching and trying to watch one whale after another we FINALLY got some nice looks at a couple of minke whales.

A cooperative minke whale eventually surfaced nearby us this morning

Morning minke whale

This afternoon we headed back to where we were in the morning and guess what? The first thing we saw was a huge fin whale!

Fin whale at the surface

We got a fantastic look at this whale, a familiar one named Crow, before it disappeared.

Crow

Luckily, not far away were 3 minke whales darting around the area giving us the chance to watch these whales surface all around us.

One of the multiple minke whales this afternoon

Wildlife certainly has it's moments of impressiveness and slight frustrations but that's what makes each trip so unique. Each outing is an adventure of its own that only the whales know what our sightings may hold.

Wednesday, July 5, 2017
This morning the large whales were very elusive, but we were fortunate to find a dozen minke whales to look at including the most AMAZING minke whale I think I've ever seen!  This whale swam circles around and under our boat for almost a half an hour.  The weather conditions made it possible for us to see the entire whale under the water.  We also saw 2 gray seals, 2 pods of harbor porpoise, and loads of lion's mane jellyfish. 
Our afternoon trip was entirely different.  We got some good looks three fin whales and 2 minke whales.  On our journey back to the harbor we had a Brown Pelican fly across our stern!  This is a tropical bird, not usually one that is seen in NH waters! 
What a AWESOME day to spend in the Gulf of Maine!!

Tuesday, July 4

Happy Independence day all! The ocean was as flat as flat can be today. What a beautiful day to be on the water. This morning we started our day checking out some bluefin tuna crashing at the surface chasing down some bait fish for a mid-morning snack!

A bluefin tuna leaping at the surface to capture some food

We also saw 5 minke whales, a quick look at a fin whale and a basking shark.

Minke whale

Basking shark fin

This afternoon we had some curious critters. One of the 4 minke whales seen today spent time doing donuts directly underneath the boat allowing our passengers to just stare straight down into the flat calm seas watching this whale below us!

This minke whale remained under our boat for some time this afternoon!

Minke whale in such calm seas

Minutes later we had a harbor seal swim by and look at all of us looking at it! Mammals watching mammals :)

Harbor seal watching us

Before heading for home we even came across a small pod of 4-5 Atlantic white-sided dolphins swimming nearby.

Another afternoon minke whale

Atlantic white-sided dolphin at the surface

Monday, July 3

We have continued to spot whales during our trips recently but these whales are certainly moving around. Only days ago we were seeing fin whales close to home. During our past few trips it has been a rarity to even find one! These wild animals remind us we cannot predict their movements and instead find these creatures the "old-fashioned" way. Our eyesight is the primary tool we use to scan the horizon in all directions from the moment we leave the harbor until we return. Today we got the chance to see 5 minke whales during our travels to and from Jeffreys Ledge. On the ledge we found Satula and then Gondolier, who breached clear out of the water in the distance! That's one way to find a massive mammal!

Satula

Gondolier

Humpback whale tail

This afternoon we headed back out to Jeffreys Ledge. This time we also spotted 5 minke whales during our travels and after some extra effort came across multiple humpback whales.

Minke whale

Watching whales in calm seas is so stunning

In total, there were 5 humpback whales darting around. We spent most of our time with Satula and #0050 but also watched Jawa swim past us as we saw others in the distance.

Satula again!

The last time we saw #0050 was over a month ago. Welcome back to the area friend!

#0050

Sunday, July 2

The ocean continued to calm down as the day progressed today and with minimal wind all day long we had nice conditions for spotting whale activity. This morning we saw 3 fin whales, a minke whale and 5 humpback whales. Our minke whale and fin whales were being a bit elusive but we still could appreciate the size of of these whales.

Fin whale #0354 appeared nearby while we were watching some humpback whales in the area

Our humpback whales, while they were remaining underwater for a bit of time, were not moving far from the area. Some of the visitors included Satula, Littlespot, Piña and Lascaux; a few being seen for the first time in our area this season.

Satula was briefly seen moving through the area this morning

Littlespot the humpback whale

Littlespot and Piña moving around together

This afternoon we first checked out a large fin whale before coming across a mother-calf humpback whale pair.

Fin whale surfacing

Our humpback whale pair were slowly on the move and we were extremely excited IDing this pair quickly as Valley and her 2017 calf!

Valley and her calf

After that we got the opportunity to see Piña and Littlespot still swimming side by side each other and a quick stop on Satula still circling around the area before heading home from Jeffreys Ledge.

Piña the humpback whale

Satula this afternoon

Saturday, July 1

This morning, we found 3 minke whales, 2 fin whales, 1 humpback whale and a harbor seal! Quite the variety! One of our fin whales was a new favorite, known as “2- Scoops”, as named by the famous Will Cioffi.   The humpback we saw was Satula, a long-time favorite and one of Blue Ocean Society’s adoptable whales! We haven’t seen him in about 6 weeks so it great to see him again. Satula was feeding and repeatedly surfaced close to our boat.

Fin whale blaze

Fin whale

Humpback whale, Satula!

This afternoon, the wind started to blow, making for some seas that were not all that comfortable for watching whales. We started off our trip with a very active juvenile minke whale. This little guy must have jumped out of the water at least a dozen times!  Two more minkes were spotted briefly before we made the decision to turn for home before conditions deteriorated even more. On our way in, we cruised through the scenic Isles of Shoals before arriving back in Rye.