Monday, August 7

This morning we spent time with two different minke whales. Our first whale of the day was a very familiar one. It was Scar minke, a whale that survived being hit by a boat earlier in its life and now just bears the scar of this unfortunate incident. Blue Ocean Society researchers have been documenting this whale in the Jeffreys Ledge region since 1995!

Scar minke

Second minke whale of the morning (above and below)

This afternoon we saw two minke whales and a humpback whale.

Minke whale swimming past us

Our humpback whale was also a familiar whale for the region. Hornbill was on the move through the area. This whale was first sighted in the Gulf of Maine in 1977. Yep, that means this whale is at least 40 years old!

Hornbill

Did you know both Scar and Hornbill are adoptable whales with the Blue Ocean Society? For more information on whale adoptions click HERE

Whale tail

Sunday, August 6

The day began with a good strong wind reminding us that Mother Nature always holds the upper-hand and we are at the mercy of her strength. While we rocked and rolled a bit this morning the wind eventually slacked off later in the day and we saw whales on both of our trips. This morning we managed to come across a humpback whale. In reality it's amazing we even found this whale. It was taking anywhere from 12-20 minutes dive times while only surfacing for minimal breaths in between. We managed to get a few looks at this mostly uncooperative, but nonetheless wild, marine mammal this morning.

Our first look at this new visitor to the area this season. Thanks for saying hi, even though brief, Geometry the humpback whale.

During our travels home we stopped to check out an ocean sunfish for a bit too!

Close-up subsurface view of our ocean sunfish this morning

Ocean sunfish swimming in towards the boat

This afternoon our first stop was a different ocean sunfish seen on Jeffreys Ledge.

Afternoon ocean sunfish swimming away from us this time

After a few looks we did a bit more searching before heading slightly inshore to watch a fin whale that had been found by one of our other whale watching friends. This whale was only spending 6-7 minutes below the waterline. The added bonus was that this massive mammal was circling around the area giving us the chance to get some fin-tastic looks at one of the second largest animals on Earth!

Fin whale (above and below)

Saturday, August 5

Today the weather conditions won the game. We headed out in the fog, expecting it to clear once we got into the area where the whales were. No such luck. We checked area after area, talked with other boats to find out where better visibility was and even when we did find a nice big clearing, the whales managed to elude us.  We did find and ocean sunfish though!  This "interesting" looking fish swam around and even under the boat, giving us all a look at its unique physique! 

Due to the increasing winds, we decided to not venture out for the afternoon trip. Let's hope that tomorrow brings better whale watching weather!

Friday, August 4

This morning, we spotted 2 blows close to each other. One quickly disappeared while the other turned out to be from the humpback whale named Hornbill!

Our afternoon trip found Hornbill yet again, as well as 2 more humpback whales, Owl and her newest calf! Owl was her typical self, approaching our boat and giving us all some memorable views as she and her calf passed right next to the boat!

Thursday, August 3

We were fortunate to spend time watching whales inshore of Jeffreys Ledge again today. This morning we sighted 6 minke whales, a diving fin whale and 2 humpback whales.

Morning minke whale sighting

Our humpback whales were Owl and her calf. Owl is a favorite among the crew so a sighting of her, especially with a calf, is always a phenomenal experience.

Owl and her calf (above and below)

This afternoon we saw 3 minke whales scattered around as we spent our time with 3 humpback whales. Owl and her calf were still around and Hornbill decided to say hi too!

Afternoon sighting of Owl and her calf (above and below)

Owl and her calf surfaced right alongside us at one point

Hornbill the humpback whale

Wednesday August 2, 2017

What an AMAZING day to be out on the ocean!!!  Our morning trip turned out to be a grand slam, which means that we saw each of the 5 most commonly sighted cetacean species in the area during our trip.   On our way off shore we sighted many harbor seals and two gray seals.  Then we were fortunate to see a small pod of Atlantic White-sided Dolphins.  Our next stop was in an area where several Minke whales were feeding.  Nearby, we saw a Fin whale come to the surface.  The Fin whale was taking very long dives, but we were very lucky that on one of its surfacings it happened to come up right next to our boat!  The flat calm sea conditions allowed us to see this gigantic animal through the surface of the water!  It was very impressive!  As we were leaving the Fin whale, we got a quick glimpse of a blue shark before heading on to an area where there were a few Humpback whales.  We were almost out of time at this point, but had time to get a few good looks at Owl and her calf.   As we were traveling back towards shore a small pod of Harbor Porpoise passed by us.  All in all it was a fantastic trip!
It might sound like that was a tough act to beat, but the whales did not disappoint us this afternoon.  As we headed back offshore, we once again saw several seals swimming by the boat.  Then we came into an area where Hornbill the Humpback whale was feeding....we even saw the remnants of his bubble clouds coming to the surface.  There were two Minke whales circling the area where Hornbill was feeding as well.  After leaving those whales, we moved on to an area where we once again saw Owl and her calf.  We were very fortunate to have all three of these Humpbacks come up close to our boat and gave us fantastic looks!  We even got to see Owl nursing her calf!  Just before we left this, a school of Blue fin tuna broke the surface of the water and we were able to see them splashing around at the surface for a minute or so.  There was SO much wildlife out in the Gulf of Maine today! It was a truly amazing day!

Tuesday, August 1

August has certainly started off well. We can only hope sightings like this will continue but as always we really just take it one day at a time. This morning the seas were so calm that anything seemed to be visible to us. So much so, we ended up seeing 19 harbor seals(!), 4 minke whales, 2 fin whales and 6 blue sharks! Wow. That's a lot of marine life.

Such calm seas to watch wildlife!

Stealth maneuvering of a blue shark at the surface

Another blue shark under the surface

This blue shark realized we were close by and with a quick flick of its tail soon disappeared into the ocean depths

Morning fin whale

This afternoon we had equally plenty to look at including 4 minke whales and 4 fin whales. All of our minke whales were clustered in one area and our fin whales in another.

Afternoon minke whale

Incoming minke!

Whales were moving all around the boat allowing for some great looks at these baleen whales.

Scar minke!

Fin whale

The trip wrapped up as we watched a pair of fin whales on the move together.

Pair of fin whales seen moving around together (above and below)