Saturday, September 15, 2018

The fog lingered around again today but conditions were much more manageable to search for and find whales! In total we saw nine humpback whales, three minke whales, at least 30 Atlantic white-sided dolphins and three harbor seals.

Dolphins zipping through the water

Pair of humpback whales

Harbor seal surfacing near the boat

Most of our whales were being mellow but one, Shuffleboard, showcased impressive aerial activities. This whale breached multiple times and when it was not breaching had plenty of energy to flipper-slap instead.

Shuffleboard breaching

Massive flipper in the air

Another breach!

Other known whales included Valley, Ravine, Owl, Tear and Patches.

Valley

Owl

Tear

Wed, Sept 12, 2018

Finally, we were able to get back out on the ocean after days of being tied to the dock. The weather hasn't been nice lately, hence we've been spending our days on land. Today we got to venture out and found over a dozen humpback whales!  Although some of our whales were sleepy, we did get some views of whale tails as they dove!  A minke whale was seen briefly as well!

Saturday, September 8, 2018

Saturday's weather was just manageable enough to squeak a trip in before the ocean really began to get angry! We spent time with five humpback whales offshore. We first came upon a pair, Shuffleboard and Churn, doing what whales do. They would surface for a handful of breaths of air then dive for a few minutes at a time. This is standard whale behavior and what we expect to see once we find whales. In the area, a third humpback whale could be seen occasionally spouting in the distance. It wasn't long before we saw other activity making BIG splashes on the horizon. We headed that way and found Chromosome and Grommet being very active individuals! Both were breaching and flipper-slapping displaying very impressive, and unexpected, sights consistently.

One whale breaching while the other begins to raise its flipper in the air

Chromosome breaching

Flipper-slapping

Whales have a mind of their own (obviously, remember they are wild animals) so being in the right place at the right time is definitely a special treat.

More breaching

Another flipper in the air

On our trip home we spotted the same whales from earlier but now that third whale had joined up with our original pair. We got a quick glance as Shuffleboard, Churn and Spell all went on dives.

Churn and Shuffleboard

Diving whale

Before returning to the harbor we even got a chance to check out an ocean sunfish.

Ocean sunfish

The weather is far from ideal now so we will patiently wait for the next opportunity to see what wildlife has in store for us.

Friday, Sept 7, 2018

Friday’s trip started out with some wind and seas from the northeast which diminished over the day. Our first few whales were just doing some slow sub-surface traveling, so not really spending much time at the surface, and not lifting their flukes.   A forth whale came up about a half mile away, but also didn’t feel like lifting its flukes.   Then we found the humpback whale named Spell (likely named after her mom, who is named Wizard).  Spell was hard to ignore as she tail-lobbed dozens of times and then surprised us all with a breach!  As she was tail-lobbing, another whale approached her, and then approached us! Not sure who this mystery friend was, but it was certainly close!   Not far away we saw Crossbeam, and then I.T.   Another whale we have yet to ID gave us great looks at its flukes, and then we saw Measles and Palindrome.  A minke whale and several harbor seals were spotted throughout the trip, and on our way home, we encountered a pod of about 40 Atlantic white sided dolphins, and then a small group of harbor porpoises!  Great day!!

Monday, September 3, 2018

Happy Labor Day! Time continues to go by faster than it should sometimes. Temperatures today felt more like mid-August than September but the whales of course don't mind. During our trip we saw 10 humpback whales, two minke whales, a pair of fin whales, a pod of 15-20 Atlantic white-sided dolphins and a couple of seals. Many of our mammal sightings were napping, maybe enjoying the same weather conditions we were experiencing.

Sleeping harbor seal

Our first whale of the day approached our boat a few times getting some incredible looks at this mellow whale.

Humpback whale swimming towards us

Humpback whale checking us out (while we floated on the surface with our engines off of course!)

Our pair of fin whales were being a little stealthy and further offshore more pairs and trios of humpback whales were napping.

Fin whale

Trio of humpback whales

Some of our humpback whales included Spoon, Spoon's 2018 calf, Chromosome, Owl, I.T., Jabiru, Sigma, Chablis and Chinook.

Owl

Our dolphins were in small sub-pods and occasionally became associated with the humpback whales scattered around.

Atlantic white-sided dolphin

We are heading into our fall whale watching schedule so continue to check out our updates as our trips run through Columbus Day weekend!

Whale tail

Sunday, September 2, 2018

Whales continue to be numerous and today was no exception! This morning we saw a pod of 100 Atlantic white-sided dolphins, a minke whale and eight humpback whales.

Atlantic white-sided dolphin

Dolphins cruising through the water, birds above and even a spout in the background!

Dolphin

On both trips our humpback whales were in pairs, trios or larger groups of these baleen whales. They can be so impressive to watch when synchronizing their movements with others close by.

Trio of humpback whales

We saw known whales Fan, Solo, Ganesh's 2014 calf, Spoon, Spoon's 2018 calf and Jabiru.

This afternoon we saw two minke whales and 10 humpback whales. Again, whales close, spouts out in the distance and so many behaviors to witness. We saw breaching, flipper-slapping and feeding behaviors from some of our whales.

Spoon tail-breaching

Spoon's calf breaching while another whale is at the surface

Tail breach!

Diving humpback whale

Spoon's calf still being active

Our whales included Cacophany, Spoon, Spoon's calf, Jabiru, Owl, Chromosome, Chinook, Solo, Fan and Ganesh's 2014 calf.

Cacophany and Jabiru

Owl diving

A new visitor to the area this season, Chromosome

Fan

Saturday, September 1, 2018

So many whales continue to spend time offshore! This morning we saw 11 humpback whales, a minke whale, multiple seals and a pod of 150 Atlantic white-sided dolphins. No matter what was at the surface we got spectacular looks at so much wildlife.

Milkyway and Owl

Humpback whale diving

Shhh, this seal is sleeping

This harbor seal woke up eventually!

The dolphins were milling around, the humpback whales were in small groups, it was so fantastic.

Atlantic white-sided dolphin

Pair of Atlantic white-sided dolphins

Identified whales included Owl, Clamp, Milkyway, Jabiru, Spoon, Spoon's calf, Geometry, Sigma, Solo and Highlighter.

Spoon diving

Spoon and her calf poking their heads slightly out of the water

Owl and Clamp

This afternoon the phenomenal sightings continued. We started with an ocean sunfish before seeing 11 humpback whales, more seals and a large pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins we passed during our travels home.

Ocean sunfish

Trio of humpback whales

Some of the whales identified this afternoon included Patches, Spoon, her calf, Jabiru and Solo.

Spoon and her calf

The whales have been pretty incredible recently so we can only hope sightings continue even if in a fraction of the numerous sightings we have experienced!

Jaeger flying past the boat this afternoon

Humpback whale

Dolphins