Both trips on Saturday included humpback whales. In the morning, we spent time with Valley and Tripod, followed by Fan's 2015 calf and Clamp.
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| Humpback whale pair |
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In the afternoon, Valley and Tripod were still together, this time napping. Clamp was also still in the area. We even had a new visitor for the season, Diablo!
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| Valley and Tripod side-by-side |
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| Diving whale |
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| Valley |
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| Fin whale (above and below) |
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| Ocean sunfish |
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On Thursday morning, July 7, the water was glass calm, and the sun was shining; a perfect day for whale watching! We saw a harbor seal near the Isles of Shoals before finding a fin whale on the feeding ground. We got some great close looks at this animal, who was busy looking for schools of fish below the surface.
After leaving this fin whale we spotted a beautiful ocean
sunfish, or Mola mola. This individual was on the smaller side, with a
speckled pattern. This was just one of six sunfish we saw on this trip! We came
across a second fin whale and got some wonderful looks in the calm seas. Before
turning home, we were surprised by the sudden appearance of a basking shark! We
have not seen one of these animals since 2020; what a special treat! Unfortunately,
it did not spend much time at the surface, and no crew members were able to get
photos.
The wind picked up in the afternoon, and we got reports of whales close to the Isles of Shoals. After a slow cruise by White Island, we found two humpback whales: Clamp and Satula. These two were traveling together at first, and eventually separated. We will sometimes see these short-term associations between the larger baleen whales, and they can be over as soon as they begin.
We came across a fin whale after leaving our two humpbacks. We were able to witness this whale using its baleen to filter feed. A large green patch was visible when this animal came up from a dive, as its throat fanned out while taking in a gulp of water and fish. What an amazing sight!
On our way back to the harbor, we came across Satula again. Clamp was also spotted in the distance, and a third was spotted on the horizon. We only saw the exhalation from this whale, so we are not sure of the species. We saw yet another ocean sunfish before ultimately making it back to the harbor. What a perfect day on the water!
This morning, we got a report of some blows on the southern part of Jeffreys Ledge. Upon arrival, we saw two separate humpback whales: one was behind us and one in front. We chose to start with the one in front of us. This animal was all over the place, keeping us on our toes.
After getting a quick look at its flukes, we moved on to a group of whales that was much easier to keep track of. This was a trio of humpbacks known as Clamp, Valley and Tripod! These whales were taking a bit of a nap, just floating and drifting. Such a beautiful sight!
On the way home, we saw a couple of Atlantic white-sided dolphins but these little animals were really tough to get looks at.
During the afternoon, we headed back to southern Jeffreys
Ledge. We tried to look at a fin whale but it wanted nothing to do with us! We continued
and found two pairs of humpback whales. Valley and Tripod were together, and Dross
and Clamp were together! Although the ocean conditions were bumpy, the whales
certainly did not disappoint!
The fourth of July included sunny skies, calm winds, and stunning seas, a perfect combination to celebrate our independence day. In the morning, we had a variety of life with close looks at an ocean sunfish, a nursery pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins, and a fin whale. This is only the second time all season we have come across dolphins!
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| Baby dolphin! |
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| Speckled fin of our ocean sunfish |
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| Fin whale cruising through the water! (above and below) |
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The afternoon trip took us to a different part of Jeffreys Ledge where we checked out two humpback whales - Clamp and Dross.
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| Humpback whale |
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The weather caused us to pause on Saturday morning so we only had an afternoon trip. Thanks to our fellow whale-watching friends, we spent time with Clamp's 2016 calf. While the whale mostly meandered through the area, we did witness a few curious approaches by this wild whale. Such a unique individual and a moment never taken for granted.
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| Slight spy-hop |
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| Humpback whale swimming past us |
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| Ocean sunfish |
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| Such calm seas |
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| Fin whale |
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| Clamp! |
Wednesday, June 29, 2022
This morning, we steamed north toward the area we had whales
yesterday afternoon. We passed by a few harbor porpoises on the way before
finding a minke whale. This “little” 25-foot whale surfaced frequently and was
easy to see on the glassy calm seas.
Continuing on, we saw a large, yellow balloon floating on
the ocean. Marine debris (trash in the ocean) is a huge problem for marine
life. Our crew was amazing once again, plucking this inflated piece of plastic
out of the ocean.
Next, we spotted a humpback whale that appeared to be on the smaller side- possibly a juvenile. As we waited for it to resurface, we saw a small mark on our depth sounder, telling us that something was right below the boat. Sometimes these marks are tuna or schools of fish, and sometimes they are whales! I looked down into the water, hoping to see the glow of a humpback whale’s white flippers, but what I saw instead was a huge surprise. A 6-foot porbeagle shark was right next to the boat, and with those glassy calm seas, we could see the entire animal as if we were in an aquarium! Awesome! But then it got even better! The shark swam circles around the boat, rubbing up on the hull! Upon closer inspection, this shark had several lamprey eels attached, so we believe it was trying to knock off the parasitic fish. In over 25 years of whale watching, I’ve never seen anything like this! In the meantime, the humpback whale came back up but we decided to stay with the shark for as long as it would stay with us. After a long 6 minutes of shark-watching, our fishy friend left us, and we were back to whale-watching!
The small-ish humpback whale was tricky to find since it
didn’t have a visible blow and was very stealthy at the surface. Eventually,
the whale became more predictable and showed up close by. We finally saw its
flukes and realized that we saw this same whale last Friday afternoon. We still
don’t know who it is, so possibly a new whale for our catalog!
The afternoon trip was completely different from the
morning. The wind picked up, so we lost the glassy seas. However, found three whales:
one minke and two humpbacks! And better yet, the humpbacks were two of
Blue Ocean Society's adoptable whales again!! Cool! The first was Pinball. She was
moving around quite a bit but generally sticking around the area.
We moved on to check out other areas. In our travels, we found more balloons. This cluster was from a graduation party. Ugh. Please do not let balloons go!
After a bit of searching, we found Satula! This humpback was feeding on fish near the bottom and blowing clouds of bubbles to corral his meal! At one point, he surprised us by coming up right next to our bow after being underwater for about 5 minutes! Whales always keep us on our toes!
Thursday, June 30, 2022
This morning greeted us with beautiful sea conditions and bright sunlight. It took a bit of searching, but eventually, we found Satula, the humpback whale. Satula was all over the place, always showing up in a different direction between dives. There was plenty of bait in the water, and Satula was busy feeding. He even created a bubble cloud at one point. He eventually gave passengers some great looks. While we were watching Satula, a fin whale also popped up nearby. We were able to get some quick looks at the second largest whale in the world. Eventually, Satula was joined by a second humpback whale, Pinball! Pinball and Satula are adoptable whales with the Blue Ocean Society, and it’s always nice to see them.
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| Pinball diving |
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| Satula diving |
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| Ocean sunfish |
