June 21-22, 2023

Happy Summer Solstice!

Wednesday morning, we passed a grey seal soon after leaving the harbor. Then we found a young humpback whale taking 8-minute dives and moving around quite a bit. Eventually, it slowed down, and we got great looks.  We have had an influx of juvenile humpback whales recently, and this one was a new one to our area. We ID’ed it as the 2022 calf of Ganesh! The exciting part is that we never saw Ganesh and her new calf last summer, so how did this youngster know how to get to Jeffreys Ledge?

In the afternoon, we saw Ganesh’s 2022 calf again, a couple of minke whales, and another young humpback whale. This one didn’t lift its tail but did surface close by several times. It had unique markings on its dorsal fin and some scarring on its back, so hopefully, we will be able to identify it in the future.

Thursday morning started out glassy calm! Our first sighting was of a large basking shark lounging at the surface, allowing us to pull up right next to it. We could see the whole shark just below the surface! Nearby, we found several baleen whales in one area- a minke whale, a fin whale, and a humpback whale! All three were taking long dives and keeping us on our toes. We continued and saw some splashing on the horizon. Humpback whales Dross and her calf were traveling, but the calf was pretty wiggly, throwing its tail out of the water, slapping its tail on the surface, and even jumping completely out of the water several times! We love watching playful baby whales!

Thursday afternoon was beautiful and sunny as we headed out to Jeffreys Ledge. Our first sighting was a young humpback (the 2022 calf of Ganesh) who was busy taking quick dives.  We moved on and had the spectacular sighting of 3 fin whales together! These whales had clearly fed recently, given their extremely active digestive systems. After some great looks at these whales, we moved on and saw two more juvenile humpbacks, both apparently busy deep feeding. It was a great day on the water!

Humpback whale

Fin whale poop!

Fin whale

Humpback whale

 

June 19-20, 2023

The weather cooperated enough on Monday for us to get our trips in. It was a beautiful day. In the morning, we saw two minke whales and two fin whales.

Minke whale in such calm seas

Fin whale

During our afternoon trip, we were back in the same area where two fin whales continued to move around.

Fin whale spout

Fin whale diving

We only had an afternoon trip on Tuesday. We spent plenty of time searching numerous areas around the Jeffreys Ledge region. On the way home, a fin whale decided to show itself. While the whale was spending some time below the surface, it wasn't moving far, allowing for some good looks.

June 17-18, 2023

The weather has been up and down this week. We didn't run any trips on Saturday due to the windy and rainy conditions. Luckily the weather subsided for an afternoon trip on Sunday. A leftover swell and a few raindrops were sprinkled throughout the trip. Whale-wise we had a humpback whale, three minke whales, and even a handful of harbor seals!

Humpback whale (above and below)

The humpback whale was only a few miles off the coast of Maine and a great way to start off the trip. The minke whales were scattered around further offshore.

Minke whale

We are now on our summer schedule running trips 7 days a week at 8:30am and 2pm, weather dependent of course. Hope to see you soon!

June 15-16, 2023

Conditions were lovely on Thursday as we went searching for marine life. We ended up finding a minke whale out on Jeffreys Ledge. While this whale was darting around quite a bit, we still managed to get some nice looks.

On Friday's trip we were treated to some very incredible behaviors... a humpback breaching! While all whales can breach, it is not a behavior we see regularly so our passengers were extremely fortunate to experience such a spectacular sight.

Tail-breach

Breach!

June 12-14, 2023

Whales have been doing a good job shifting around the past few days, causing for extra search efforts during our trips. But wild animals can and certainly do just that! Our searching paid off on Monday when we found and spent time with a humpback whale. This humpback whale is a new one for us for the season, and we are in the process of identifying it.

The windy and rainy weather kept us on land on Tuesday. On Wednesday, we had two trips starting with a school group from Deerfield. The trip began with another unknown humpback whale and ended with a VERY familiar one - Pinball and her 2023 calf!

Pinball

Pinball spent most of her time subsurface. Her calf, on the other hand, was quite the opposite. Lots of squiggly behavior creating plenty of whitewater.

Tail-breach

Pinball's calf lob-tailing

During our afternoon trip, we returned to where we were in the morning. We ran into some offshore fog, but it soon cleared, and we were in search mode. Followed by more search mode. And still even more. Unfortunately, we did not find any whales and look forward to our passengers returning to experience the whale aspect of the Gulf of Maine!

June 10-11, 2023

Sightings on Saturday were well inshore of Jeffreys Ledge. Three humpback whales in total. Still working on identifying each of these whales by using their unique dorsal fin shapes and black and white pigmentation patterns on the underside of their tails.

We enjoy being part of the research community as our research affiliate, the Blue Ocean Society, compiles and contributes all our sighting information to the Center for Coastal Studies. Here's to learning more about the whales that roam our area and where and when they will show themselves next!

On Sunday, the where and when of whale sightings kept us on our toes. First a spout just beyond the Isles of Shoals, only to not be seen again after a 20-minute wait. Then more spouts, four(!), later in the trip. Two fin whale pairs. We ended up trying to track with one of those pairs; a mother-calf pair! Seeing mother-calf pairs are always a special treat but of the second largest animals on earth... awesome! Well, that was when they decided to slow down their travels eventually allowing for some beautiful looks.

Fin whale mother-calf pair!

Mother of the fin whale pair

We also got a gorgeous look at another fin whale in the area just before heading home. Along with a few minke whale sightings our patience and effort made for some great looks at these marine mammals.

Fin whale diving

We are now running whale watch trips daily so stay tuned as we update regularly on our adventures out on the open ocean.

June 3-4, 2023

Weather is keeping us on land this weekend. Stay tuned for sighting updates next weekend when we get back out on the water.