June 20-21, 2024

 Thursday Afternoon, after making our way out towards Jeffrey's Ledge, we were quickly greeted by several humpback whales including Pinball and Picket, as well as Clamp and her 2024 calf! We started our whale watching with the calf who was very active near the surface displaying behaviors such as tail lobbing and tail breaching, all while mom was very busy down in the depths of the ocean searching for food. 

Picket diving

Clamp '24 calf tail lob!

We would soon find out just how much food was just underneath the surface as we continued along, eventually coming across at least five different fin whales darting in all directions around us, some of which began surface feeding! 

                                                          Distant fin whale surface feeding

Whirlwind Surface feeding

Close fin whale surface feeding

As we sat motionless watching our afternoon fin whale fiesta, we were also joined by another humpback whale, Whirlwind, who began surface feeding as well. An amazing way to end the day!

Friday morning began with several humpbacks spending time in close proximity of one another. We first began with getting looks at Satula, before pressing a little further and coming across two mother/calf pairs, Mudskipper and calf, as well as Clamp and calf! Both calves getting a little wiggly at the surface while their mothers when down on deeper dives.

                                                           Evidence of Satula feeding

                                                              Two of FOUR basking sharks!

Incredibly, our attention was taken away from these humpback whales as we noticed four basking sharks spending time near the surface not too far away! Sightings of these sharks have been few and far between in recent years, so to have so many in one trip put our crew at a loss for words. As we began to depart the area we noticed a large amount of splashing off in the distance that we moved to investigate. Moving in closer revealed a humpback whale repeatedly smacking its tail against the surface, which revealed itself to be a whale known as Evolution.

                                                                          Evolution tail lob

                                                                           Flipper slapping!

After saying goodbye to Evolution, we started making our way back towards Rye Harbor. About half of the way back we got very quick looks at another humpback, Sawtooth. 

Friday Afternoon was kicked off with really quick looks at Sawtooth as we made our way down towards the southern tip of Jeffrey's Ledge. Once there, we spent time watching two humpback whales, Whirlwind and one unidentified individual, cooperatively feeding near the surface! These whales repeatedly coming up to the surface filtering water between their baleen plates. They were briefly joined by another whale, Satula, before he ultimately pressed further west on his own. 

                                                            Humpback whale filtering saltwater

                                                                 Satula joining pair of whales

After spending time with our first three whales, we noticed some splashing off of our starboard side, which turned out to be the 2024 calf of Clamp! Clamp's calf approached us and showed off an impressive display of tail breaches before crossing our bow to go meet up with mom who appeared a little ways away off of our port side.

                                                               Tail breach from Clamp '24 calf

As we waited for the calf to move away from our vessel we were treated to a small group of Atlantic white-sided dolphins that quickly pressed on out of the area. A fun way to end an excellent day out on the ledge!

June 19-20, 2024

Wednesday morning, we found several humpback whales who were feeding at the surface! Lots of bubble clouds, lots of whales coming up with mouths full of water and fish! We even saw a mother with her calf, and although the calf is too young to be feeding on fish, it was mimicking its mom, coming up right next to her in the same way! So cute! A brief look at a basking shark rounded out the trip.

Wednesday afternoon, a humpback whale was seen close to the Isles of Shoals, just 5 miles off the coast! Most of our sightings are at least 10 miles from the harbor, so this was a surprise! Then the whale started blowing bubble clouds and charging up through them with its mouth wide open!  

Next, we found a fin whale who was also feeding at the surface and lunging sideways through patches of small fish and krill! We haven’t seen fin whales feeding this way in years! Amazing! 

And lastly, we found another humpback whale taking short dives and even tail-breached once! After we left, some of our group saw the whale breach out of the water head first! What a great day!

 

Thursday morning, several fin whales were spotted offshore. Two of them were matched to our local catalog as being Bp #0402 and Bp #0518! I love it when we are able to match these huge creatures!

As we continued along, we found a group of about 50 Atlantic white-sided dolphins including lots of newborn calves!

Then as we approached southern Jeffreys Ledge, we saw multiple humpbacks including our Adoptable Whale, Pinball and a mom/calf pair of humpbacks! The calf even breached!

Then we saw a large basking shark and a harbor seal on our way home! Another great day on the water!

June 18, 2024

  Yesterday we were treated to two fantastic trips! Our morning trip was kicked off with a very mellow group of around 100 Atlantic white-sided dolphins, which actually led us to encounter a basking shark! This shark was swimming forward with it's mouth wide open, hopefully capturing lots of plankton. 

                                                   Atlantic white-sided dolphins                                             

Basking Shark

Not long after continuing along we came across our first pair of fin whales for the morning. These whales were the first of SEVEN fin whales we encountered throughout our trip! 

Fin whale pair

At the southernmost point of our journey, we encountered four different humpback whales. First getting to spend some time with Satula as he did some travelling through the area, before happening across Clamp and her 2024 calf! While Clamp was very busy searching for schools of fish down beneath the surface, we got to turn our engines off and spend some time with her new calf as it circled around our boat before ultimately meeting back up with its mother. 

  Clamp showing off her tail flick!

                                        
                                                                    

Clamp's '24 Calf passing us by

On our way back towards Rye Harbor we got a quick look at a humpback known as GOM 1827, yet another basking shark, and even our first ocean sunfish of the season!

          Ocean Sunfish

Our afternoon trip took us straight out to the southern tip of Jeffrey's Ledge with no distractions. Once there however, the action didn't let up. The next several hours were spent travelling between eight different humpback whales, almost all of whom were feeding beneath the surface, evident by the bubble clouds left behind as well as their ventral pleats bellowing outwards after surfacing. The first three whales we encountered in close proximity to one another have been identified as Whirlwind, GOM 1753, and Boathook. 

  GOM 1753 and Boathook surfacing together

The other five humpbacks were hanging out a little ways south, making us dizzy as we spun our heads in circles trying to watch them surface in all directions, all the while, three different fin whales also passed through the area. Once our heads were back on straight, we were able to ID all of our humpbacks as Diablo, Pinball, Seadog, Picket, and Evolution.  

     Diablo diving

   Seadog diving

   Pinball diving

      Fin whale passing by

Not long after saying goodbye to all of our whales on the ledge, we got some quick looks at a basking shark before it headed further down into the depths of the ocean. 

Two wildly different trips making for one incredible day! 

June 16, 2024

Apologies for not updating our website with recent sightings! Our crew has experienced several personal misfortunes over the past few weeks, leaving us scrambling to keep up. But don’t worry! The sightings have been fantastic, with several groups of huge fin whales, lots of new humpback whales, and even some basking sharks!

This morning, June 16, we found five fin whales (all solitary) and four humpback whales (including Bayou and her calf), as well as a small pod of harbor porpoises and a breaching basking shark.

 

Humpback mom/calf pair

Fin whale

The afternoon trip found a trio of fin whales, with at least two more in the area, as well as five humpback whales, including Dash-Dot, Dome, and Entropy.

 

Diving humpback whale

Two fin whales!

Fin whale

Whale spout

Humpback whale

We are still waiting on the fin whale ID’s, but stay tuned! 

June 1-2, 2024

 Saturday, June 1, 2024

Heading out to Jeffreys Ledge, we stopped on a few small pods of Atlantic white-sided dolphins. Several times, groups of 3-4 swam up to the boat, and even under our pulpit, delighting all on board! The seas were glassy calm, so we got great views of their unique coloration even underwater.

Shortly after, we came across a group of three humpback whales! The trio wasn’t familiar to us, and a couple of them appeared to be on the smaller size. But it’s nearly impossible to estimate age based on size. These whales surfaced close to us and even went under the boat before starting to feed. 

The trip was amazing, with perfect weather, too! After the trip was over, we consulted our resources and identified the humpback whales as Scorpio, Halloween and the recent calf of Bounce.

 

Sunday, June 2, 2024

Sunday’s trip covered a lot of territory! We started out by going to southern Jeffreys Ledge. We stopped on a fin whale that was less than cooperative, but while we waited for it, we found a huge basking shark! We then stopped on a different fin whale that had other things on its mind. Then, we got a report of a whale in a different direction. We headed up the ledge and saw a fin whale that we finally got decent looks at! The second-largest animal on the planet is amazing to see, especially when it stays up for more than one breath! 

Our crew today had over 100 years of combined experience searching for whales (that means we are old!), and it took every inch of our beings to show our guests a whale! Sometimes, we need to be humbled by the wild animals that we love to watch and who are really the ones in charge of each adventure.

 

May 25-26, 2024

The 2024 season has arrived! The salt air and cool ocean temperatures reminded us of what we have been waiting for since last season. It seems like ages, and yet, just moments, since we were last out on our public trips. This weekend, we enjoyed seeing many familiar faces and newcomers wanting to share in the wild aspect of whale watching in the Jeffreys Ledge area. On Saturday, we started with a large pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins, approximately 75 in total. These zippy creatures were mesmerizing. 

Atlantic white-sided dolphin

Throughout our travels, we spotted four pods of these toothed whales! Before turning for home, we came across a large fin whale. 

Fin whale

Thanks to Blue Ocean Society's Data Coordinator, Kaela, she matched our fin whale to a whale first documented in this area in 2012!

Fin whale #1256

On Sunday, the trip started with a minke whale before spotting a few small pods of Atlantic white-sided dolphins. 

Minke whale

The wind was minimal, so the surrounding scenery of the water throughout our travels was stunning. Thanks to our fellow whale-watching friends, we also got the chance to spend time with two humpback whales - Grommet and Wish. 

Pair of humpback whales

These humpback whales were not spending long intervals below the surface and even were sighted filtering, an active sign of feeding! 

Humpback whales filtering

Humpback whale tail

The trip wrapped up with our first basking shark of the season! Nothing like a variety of marine life to start off the 2024 season. Our next whale watches are next weekend, so stay tuned for updates!

Basking shark