Wednesday, September 1
Happy September! The
overcast skies and sprinkles didn’t scare away our guests nor the whales. We
traveled to southern Jeffreys Ledge, east of Cape Ann, and found multiple
humpback whales. But first, in our travels, we came upon a fantastic group of
harbor porpoises. I didn’t get any photos, but I could have! Generally, harbor
porpoises are shy and don’t stay long enough to obtain quality photos, but this
group differed. I should always know to be prepared!
Our first group of humpback whales was a familiar trio:
Valley, Sword, and Jawa. As they napped at the surface, we drifted along with them.
The group crossed our bow as we were drifting, giving all of our guests great views
A pair of humpback whales was nearby, so we checked them out
next. Quill was easy to ID, but his friend took us a little time as it was a
new whale for us this season- Doric! Some years we see Doric multiple times, and
some years we don’t see him at all, so this was a great sighting.
In the
distance, another pair of humpbacks dove: Shuffleboard and Pitcher!
A few other humpbacks were in the area, but we ran out of
time.
Our birding friends saw 2 great shearwaters, 1 manx
shearwater, Wilson’s storm petrels, northern gannets, and a pair of jaegers!
Friday, September 3
Friday threw us a little bit of everything. Sunny skies, clouds,
rain, wind and white caps, and glassy calm seas. We also got to make a pit stop
at Star Island, one of the Isles of Shoals, on our way home! Whale watching and
a scenic cruise all in one!
After the remnants of Hurricane Ida passed by on Thursday, keeping us in the harbor, we weren’t sure what today would bring as far as whales. Sometimes storms move
around the prey, and the whales will then follow that prey. Other times, the whales
don’t seem to care at all. We got lucky, finding whales relatively close to
where we had seen some on Wednesday.
Our first pair was of two adult female humpback whales, Owl
and Ebony. Ironically, both of these whales have injuries on their backs. Owl’s
was likely caused by a boat strike when she was young, and I must admit, I don’t
know what caused the interesting injury on Ebony’s back, but there are a few whales
that have similar injuries. I’ll get back to you on that!
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| Ebony's unusual scar |
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| Owl diving off Cape Ann |
Next, we saw another pair of humpback whales, but this pair
was a mother and her calf! Jabiru is back in the area, and her calf is looking
ok after two traumatic, life-threatening entanglements in fishing gear this season.
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| Jabiru's calf, showing the linear laceration from being entangled in fishing gear on her back |
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| Jabiru |
The mom/calf pair approached and then passed the adult pair
like two ships passing in the night. The
four whales were seen in the same area for a few minutes but not really
acknowledging each other.
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| Owl diving |
On our way home, we heard that a boat from Rye Harbor was
having engine trouble at the Isles of Shoals and needed help bringing their
passengers back to shore. We diverted course slightly to make this happen, and
in no time at all, we had docked at Star Island, boarded the stranded guests,
and continued right back on our way to Rye. Always glad to help out fellow mariners
in need! And I need to give kudos to the
ferry boat from Portsmouth that was also docked at Star Island at the time for
departing the dock momentarily to give our boat the time and space to tie up
and retrieve those stranded. It was a team effort and greatly appreciated! All three captains and crews made this appear
to be a seamless operation when in reality, it was a lot of work and
coordination behind the scenes to shift from our everyday routines. Love our
maritime family!
