Friday, September 15

Today was filled with plenty to look at but there is no denying the fact that it took some time to see it all. The main reason...FOG! Weather is one aspect we cannot control so we adapt as best as possible completely dependent on the conditions we are dealt. Fog comes and goes so effortlessly that it is just as unpredictable as the whales we go in search of! Our trip started early with 3 minke whales. We got some great looks at a couple of them before they all seemingly disappeared.

Minke whale

After that we saw fog, and fog and even more fog. Eventually, after some travels, reports of whales from our fishing friends, some great listening skills on board, and finally a little bit of visibility to work with, there was plenty to look at. In addition to the minke whales we saw there were also 13 ocean sunfish, a humpback whale, 5 fin whales and a pod of 30 Atlantic white-sided dolphins!

The first of many ocean sunfish sighted today

We thank all of our passengers who helped to listen for whale spouts as our patience ultimately paid off! It took a while to hone in on our humpback whale but once we got a visual on it, instead of just hearing it beyond the blanket of fog, we got some great looks at this new visitor to the region this season: Limpet.

Humpback whale in the fog

Limpet

While watching Limpet we saw a pair of fin whales and then a trio of fin whales. On top of that one of the fin whales fluked, a behavior rarely seen for this type of whale!

Fin whale body

This fin whale fluked displaying the fact that it only has half a tail!

On our travels home we even passed through a pod of dolphins to round out so much life after plenty of searching today.

Wednesday, Sept 13

We had a beautiful day of whale watching! Seas were as calm as they could ever be allowing for us to see all sorts of fantastic marine life. Minke whales, harbor porpoises, harbor seals, a grey seal, a humpback whale (named A-Plus), several ocean sunfish and a phenomenal pod of Atlantic white sided dolphins rounded out the trip. We also had a great group of folks on board, curious about marine life and passionate about conservation! Thanks for joining us today!

Humpback whale

Humpback whale showing up on our "fish" finder, right below the boat for a while!

Humpback whale

Atlantic white sided dolphins

Dolphins close to the boat!

Ocean sunfish

Sunday, September 10

We were a bit hesitant to venture out today after hearing that two whale watching boats from a nearby port turned back due to rough seas. What a difference an hour can make! We left the harbor to some really nice sea conditions in spite of the NE wind (which quickly died out). Our trip ended with nearly no wind at all, and pretty calm seas. 

We passed by some harbor porpoises on our way out of the harbor, and then saw the first of 5 ocean sunfish throughout the trip.

Fin whales were the stars of the day- at least 6 were spotted and we were thrilled to get close looks at a pair of them that repeatedly surfaced close to us.

 

 Bluefin tuna, possible a handful of dolphins and even a harbor seal were also seen on our wildlife excursion! 
All that while we were keeping a close eye on Hurricane Irma in Florida and thinking about all of our friends, family and colleagues enduring the storm today. Be safe, Floridians!

Saturday, September 9

The ocean was full of life today. There was so much to look at. We saw a total of 6 fin whales, 3 ocean sunfish, a pod of 25 Atlantic white-sided dolphins, a basking shark and something we have yet to see this season... a sea turtle!

Fin whale

Our fin whales were scattered around and we even watched a couple become associated with each other for a brief moment.

Pair of fin whales surfacing in synchrony

The ocean sunfish showed up sporadically throughout our travels and we were lucky enough to check out a small group of dolphins for a bit too.

Ocean sunfish dorsal fin

Atlantic white-sided dolphin

The icing on the cake was the leatherback sea turtle, the largest sea turtle there is, spotted just before we headed for home.

Leatherback sea turtle!!!!

What an extremely exciting find especially considering this turtle sighting marks for the first turtle for one of our crew members! Such a very special day :)

Friday, September 8

Today we ultimately found 4 fin whales, a humpback whale and 2 ocean sunfish, one of which breached multiple times! The wind and waves kept us on land on Wednesday so we were excited to stretch our sea legs on the water today. Our first whale of the day was a fin whale on the move. After a few attempts to get a glimpse of this whale we pressed further offshore.

Fin whale

The rest of our fin whale sightings occurred on the outskirts of the areas we were in. We got a chance to spend time with a humpback whale, doing short dives, and circling around the general area.

Humpback whale

While watching this whale we witnessed an ocean sunfish suddenly jump out of the water. While I wasn't able to capture the moment, it was an impressive one to watch! But, no need to be frightened. The whale wasn't chasing after this fish. Ocean sunfish are much TOO big for a humpback whale. Instead, whales feed on small schooling fish. A whale couldn't even swallow an ocean sunfish. It's throat is too small.

Ocean sunfish swimming through the ocean

Nevertheless, it was entertaining to watch such a large fish jump completely out of the water before we turned our attention back to the mammals of the sea.

Humpback whale tail

Monday, September 4

Today we got a chance to spend Labor Day with some of the second largest animals on Earth! In total, we saw 5 fin whales and 4 ocean sunfish.

Ocean sunfish swimming below the surface

Fin whale chevron pattern

One of our fin whales was busy feeding in the area as we watched this whale surface multiple times filtering out lots of salt water while trapping food inside its mouth.

This fin whale has its lower jaw bellowed outward, straining out salt water using its baleen plates

We also saw another fin whale leave some "clouds" behind; digested krill! We are now on our Fall schedule so while our trips are a bit less frequent we continue running through Columbus Day weekend. Stay tuned for more updates from the Gulf of Maine!

Fin whale #9618 was sighted today

Saturday, September 2

Happy Labor Day weekend!

This morning we headed down towards Cape Ann in search of whales. After passing by a few pods of harbor porpoises, we found a pair of fin whales! These beautifully sleek whales were Dingle and #0932!    

Fin whale #0932 near Cape Ann

Dingle, the fin whale, near Cape Ann

Dingle is one of Blue Ocean Society’s adoptable whales, and #0932 has been seen a few times in the past weeks, but each time, this whale is seen with a different friend!

As we were leaving the fin whales, a minke whale surfaced close by. Then we found a pair of humpback whales. These whales, identified as Touchdown and Chablis, were staying underwater for anywhere from 4-10 minutes.   

Humpback named Touchdown

Humpback near Thatcher Island

Several harbor seals were also seen during the trip as well as more harbor porpoises on our way home.

Harbor seal

 This afternoon, we headed to the same area and clearly word had gotten out of just how close to shore the whales were. LOTS of whale watching boats from Boston, Gloucester, Hampton and Rye were on scene along dozens of private boaters. It was a little more hectic than we prefer but the whales didn’t seem to mind at all. 

We got looks at Touchdown and Chablis again, along with Spoon, Jabiru and Gunslinger. The whales traded places at one point, switching up who they were hanging out with. Ah, the mysteries of whales!

Humpback whale

 Several more pods of harbor porpoises were also spotted throughout the trip. Beautiful day!

We will stay in the harbor tomorrow to let the wind and rain pass and expect to be back out on the ocean on Monday!