July 8-9, 2023

The fog lingered all day on Saturday. At times, there was some visibility to work with, at other times, almost nothing. Patience paid off though. In the morning, we saw two minke whales and three humpback whales - Mogul and Tripod and her 2023 calf. The minke whales were darting around as they tend to do. Mogul was creating a few bubble clouds and Tripod's calf breached a few times as we departed the area!

Minke whale in the fog

Humpback whale

Tripod and her calf

In the afternoon, we came across six humpback whales. We first found Pinball and her 2023 calf, followed by Satula, Valley and her 2023 calf and Mogul.

Pinball and her calf

This time it was Valley and her calf that were active at the surface, mostly Valley!

Breach!

Valley's calf (left) and Valley (right)

Valley flipper-slapping

On Sunday, the fog dial continued as we found ourselves in and out of it throughout the day. In the morning we found a pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins! This group of ~75 had a few calves and was fun to watch even in the fog.

Atlantic white-sided dolphin!

Out on Jeffreys Ledge, we searched in all directions where we have seen whales over the past few days. After a LOT of searching, Owl the humpback whale surfaced! Unfortunately, this whale dove as soon as it had been seen and we were unable to relocate it. Sunday afternoon, we once again found a pod of ~50 Atlantic white-sided dolphins en route to the ledge.

Afternoon sighting of dolphins

This time, once we made it to Jeffreys Ledge, we came across two mother-calf humpback whale pairs. We were able to spend time with Valley and her 2023 calf and Pinball and her 2023 calf.

Valley's calf swimming in towards the boat

Pinball and her calf

While the weather continues to waft in varying levels of visibility, we thank all our passengers for your patience and continued searching to help find the whales that are spending time in our area of the Gulf of Maine.

July 7, 2023

We had success on both trips today! In the morning, we had a few glimpses of a minke whale and then ended up watching three individual adult male humpbacks-Satula, Mogul, and Patches. All three were diving and staying down for 7 minutes or so. We could see the bait on the fish finder and knew they were busy feeding. Patches was the star of the morning and did several full breaches interspersed with single and double flipper slaps. Soon after, Mogul moved into the area.  Patches and Mogul are new visitors to our area this season! Patches is also the “poster child” of Granite State Whale Watch. He is featured on the cover of our brochure!

If you saw the iPhone video of the breach, it was taken by our passenger, Clara! Thanks for sharing!

 

In the afternoon, we got a quick glimpse at a few harbor porpoises and a harbor seal. We then saw several different humpback whales. Mogul and Satula were again busy feeding. Mogul treated us by breaching close to the boat. After several looks at each of those whales, we ended with Valley and her new calf. While Valley fed below the surface, we watched the calf fool around and play at the surface. Owl ended up passing through as we were with Valley and her calf.

 

Great day!

 

 

July 5-6, 2023

 Finally, two days without rain or fog!!

Wednesday morning found a very cooperative minke whale to start the trip. Sometimes these “little” 25-ft whales can be elusive, but this one was amazing! And, of course, we had perfect conditions for viewing with flat calm seas. Next, we saw a pair of humpback whales, Pinball and her calf! The pair swam right toward the boat before diving. Then the calf approached us while Pinball surfaced 100 yards away. As we were about to head home, a large grey seal popped up nearby!

Minke whale

Mom/calf pair

We returned to where we had seen the morning’s activity on Wednesday afternoon. We found a pod of about 50 Atlantic white-sided dolphins on our way there! These curious animals swam around the boat, and we were thrilled to see several calves! This was the first time we have seen dolphins this season! Continuing on, we found some humpbacks, including two mother/calf pairs and a single adult. The first pair was Valley and her calf, and as we were watching them, Pinball and her calf swam right by us!  Owl was in the distance and was blowing bubble clouds, apparently to corral her prey. Such a fantastic day on the ocean!

 

Thursday morning was beautifully calm once again! Just a bit of haze, but that didn’t impair our ability to find whales. Before we left the harbor, we had a pretty cool sighting- a bald eagle sitting in a tree by the harbor!

We saw several blows as we approached the area. The whales were moving around quite a bit, so it took us a minute to figure out what everyone was doing. Our first decent sighting of humpback whales was of a mother and calf pair. The mom wasn’t fluking, but her dorsal fin was familiar. We checked the local list of humpbacks seen so far in the area, and our guess for this whale wasn’t on the list. Finally, she lifted her tail, and our guess was correct! This was Tripod and her newest calf! We also saw Pinball and her calf again! This calf seems to be quite precocious. At times the pair were separated by a half mile or so. Usually, at this time of year, calves stick pretty close to mom. Next, we saw Satula in the area, and before we knew it, Pinball’s calf was hanging out with him, and Pinball was nowhere to be found! Some minke whales were spotted darting through the area before we ended our trip with Valley and her calf. Quite the nursery on the Ledge this morning!

 

Bald eagle in Rye Harbor

Thursday afternoon, we went to the same area as the morning and again found several humpback whales and a couple of minke whales. Our first humpback was Pinball’s calf who was by itself. Again, it took us some time to figure out what the whales were up to. We found Satula feeding on a big pile of bait below the boat, and before we knew it, Owl appeared! These two stayed together, feeding on that bait ball for a while before moving off in their own directions. Pinball and her calf joined up again, and later, we saw Valley and her calf, who were just chilling at the surface, slowly moving side by side. Another amazing day on the ocean!

Humpback whale mom/calf pair

July 3-4, 2023

The weather on Monday's trips couldn't have been more opposite. The day started with damp, foggy, and wavy conditions followed by sunshine and minimal wind in the afternoon. Luckily, the whales aren't much affected by what we experience above the water and we spent time with some great finds on both trips. In the morning, the trip started with a brief look at Finke! This is a minke whale we've been watching on the Granite State since 2011. Sadly, this whale lost its dorsal fin (hence Finke = finless minke) but has still been going strong all these years.

Finke the minke in the rain (Imagine a dorsal fin where the white healed scar is)

The trip also included six humpback whales: Owl, Valley and her 2023 calf, Spoon, Fan and New Jersey.

Valley and her calf

Lobtailing humpback whale

Owl

On the afternoon trip, we started with a breaching basking shark as we made our way to Jeffreys Ledge. We then spent time with some of the same individuals from the morning!

Valley the humpback whale

Pair of humpback whales

We also checked out two more basking sharks and a glance at a minke whale passing by.

This basking shark was on the move creating its own wake as it moved through the calm seas

Subsurface basking shark!

On Tuesday, we got a chance to see a few minke whales and humpback whales Owl, Pinball, and Pinball's calf on both of our trips.

Owl during our morning trip

In the morning, our humpback whales were initially cruising through the water but ended with all three circling around with a few close looks as they went after large patches of schooling fish below.

Pinball and her calf trucking through the water!

In the afternoon, we once again were privy to a bubble cloud from Pinball as the whales darted in each way around us.

For our birding friends: Recent trips have also included an uptick of pelagic birds such as sooty, great, and Cory's shearwaters, plenty of petrels, and even a few jaegers!

Jaeger!

July 1-2, 2023

Happy July! It was a wet, windy, and foggy June. So, of course, similar conditions were needed to join us for the start of a new month... Alas, visibility was (mostly) on our side offshore. Saturday morning, we saw a couple distant breaches from a basking shark before finding a couple minke whales and humpback whales Valley and her 2023 calf. Both mom and especially the calf got some bursts of energy as they both breached and flipper-slapped a few times!

Calf breach

Valley's flipper in the air

Calf's flipper in the air!

On the afternoon trip, we started with a minke whale before finding Valley and her calf again.

Afternoon minke whale

This time, the humpback whale pair was more mellow. However, the calf was inquisitive, as it swam a circle around the boat, allowing passengers at all corners on the boat to check it out. It even breached a couple times as we started to head back toward home.

Calf surfacing near the boat (our engines were off)

Valley and her calf

On Sunday, the weather was not on our side but the whales were. We spent time with three humpback whales on both our trips. In the morning we started with a boat favorite, Owl!

Diving humpback whale

Owl mid tail breach

She breached unexpectedly and flipper-slapped a few times before joining up with other familiar crew favorites Spoon and Fan.

Fan

In the afternoon the trio were still together (thanks for finding them Chris and crew!) as the three humpback whales alternated their surfacings. Fun finds in our foggy surroundings.

Humpback whales in the fog (above and below)

June 30, 2023

 Friday AM:  We traveled out to southern Jeffrey's with varying levels of fog. We began with a splash in the distance, which was likely a whale, but we could not relocate it after the fog rolled in. There were lots of Wilson's storm petrels zipping around. We got two fleeting looks at a small group of harbor porpoises…maybe six or so individuals. They disappeared as fast as they appeared. We traveled on and came upon a minke whale who gave us a couple of quick looks. We then had a blow in the distance that was actually two blows- a mother and calf humpback! The mother was a known whale named Valley. We were able to watch this pair and got some great looks. On the way back to Rye, the captain spotted a basking shark that was very cooperative and gave us some unhurried looks.

Friday PM: We headed back out to southern Jeffrey's for the afternoon trip. Again the fog level varied throughout. In the harbor, we saw a bald eagle. Other birds on the trip out included Wilson's storm petrels, a sooty shearwater and a Manx shearwater.   It took some searching, but we were able to relocate Valley and her calf. This pair gave us some amazing looks. The calf even came near the boat for a close approach before heading back with mom. We appreciated the size and behavior differences between the mother and calf. A few times, the calf seemed to dive right in synchrony with its mother, while at other times, it stayed shallower. After leaving this great pair, the captain found a minke whale just a few miles from the harbor. This turned out to be an easily identified minke because of its scarring and lack of a dorsal fin. The minke whale was identified as Finke (short for Finless Minke). We got two quick looks at Finke before it disappeared, and the fog rolled in even thicker. As we pulled into the harbor, we saw two bald eagles!

 

Valley and calf in the fog

Valley and calf

Valley's calf

Basking Shark