July 6-7, 2024

On Saturday morning, the fog was waiting for us - both in the harbor and offshore. Fog likes to come and go and can, and does, change at a moment's notice. While the fog engulfed us in varying levels all morning long, we still got a chance to check out a basking shark and Picket the humpback whale. Picket even tail-breached multiple times! 

Basking shark

Humpback whale tail-breach!

Glossy Ibis flying around in the fog offshore

On our afternoon trip, the wind helped disperse the fog but added to the motion of the ocean. Back offshore we got a chance to watch four fin whales darting around each other (and us!) before coming across Picket the humpback whale.

Fin whale

Pair of fin whales during Saturday's afternoon trip!

Humpback whale

Sunday was full of marine life variety. During the morning trip, we first checked out a pod of ~35 Atlantic white-sided dolphins. 

Atlantic white-sided dolphin

We then attempted to watch an ocean sunfish, but it quickly sank into the depths of the ocean. From there we checked out one, of two, basking sharks sighted during the trip. This particular basking shark wasn't the least bit bothered by our presence, circling our boat multiple times. So cool. 

The top of this basking shark's snout is at the surface!

HUGE basking shark dorsal fin

We also found two humpback whales, including New Jersey (and once again found ourselves in the fog) along with numerous pods of harbor porpoise during our travels. 

Humpback whale in the fog

Harbor porpoise!

Sunday's afternoon trip started similarly to the morning trip with a pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins. From there we spent some time watching Crow the fin whale; such a fun find! 

Crow the fin whale

We were once again privy to a basking shark (gosh these sharks are huge and so much fun to watch!) before wrapping up the day with a humpback whale. 

Basking shark!

Humpback whale

Jeffreys Ledge certainly has a lot of offer and it never gets old seeing so much wildlife on any given trip!

July 4-5, 2024

 Thursday afternoon began with what felt like a wild goose chase while we chased down leads before making our way down towards the southernmost regions of Jeffrey's Ledge. Once we arrived, we started our whale watching with a lone humpback doing a little bit of traveling before pressing on further to see what else we could find. 

Humpback Whale

After making our way a bit further south we were greeted by what seemed like countless blows from distant whales in the area, but one of them seemed just a bit different from all the rest. Upon further inspection, we discovered our suspicions were validated as we approached a BLUE WHALE! This was the same individual we encountered on Tuesday afternoon's whale watch, except this time it was 15 miles away from where we first sighted it. We were very fortunate to spend a good amount of time with this leviathan, not spending too much time underneath the surface, before we ultimately did a bit more searching. 

Blue Whale!

We didn't have to move far before coming across a pair of humpback whales. These whales leaving behind some evidence of feeding before going down on deeper dives. That red coloration telling us all we need to know as to why the blue whale had moved into the area (There's a boatload of krill around here!). 

A lil' bit of whale poop

Our humpbacks were individually identified as Springboard, Elephant, and Fleck! As we were spending time with our pair of humpbacks, we were completely surrounded by fin whales that were darting around the general area. What a way to end our Fourth of July trips!

Friday morning was our first real morning of the season being blanketed in fog. Not the most ideal for spotting marine life at the surface, but we weren't going to let that stop us! After a few hours of searching, we were given a report from our friends to the south that they had a pair of whales, so we made our way over. Once there, we had a small clearing in the fog where we were able to watch a pair of humpback whales circling around the area. 

Humpback whale

After spending some time with those two whales, we noticed a third humpback in the area and went over to investigate. In doing so, we were able to encounter a fin whale passing through the area as well!

Humpback whale diving

Fin whale diving

The fog sure doesn't make our job easy, but we won't turn our backs to adversity, and besides, it looked as though things were beginning to clear up for our afternoon trip.

Friday afternoon started with us doing some searching a bit further east than we had our whales on the morning trip. It didn't take long for us to come across our first whale of the trip, a surface feeding humpback whale! This whale spending a decent amount of time surfacing with its mouth full of saltwater as it was busy chasing down food beneath the surface.

Humpback whale filtering saltwater

While watching the humpback, we noticed a number of blows all around the boat, most of which turned into fin whales. EIGHT to be exact. Some of those fin whales traveling in pairs, and one of them actually revealing themselves to be a mother/calf pair! Definitely not a common sighting for us on our whale watches.

Fin whale pair

Partial fluke from fin whale calf

Humpback diving

After spending time with many of the fin whales, we were able to cap off our trip by visiting two different humpbacks in the region. Of the three humpbacks, we were able to identify two of the individuals as New Jersey and Fleck. Great sightings and a nice break from the morning fog!

July 3-4, 2024

Wednesday’s morning trip was phenomenal! We saw several humpback and fin whales, including one humpback that was interested in us, a sleeping humpback, a pair of fin whales, and another fin (named Crow) that was zigzagging around us, and surfacing super close several times!!

The curious humpback repeatedly surfaced close and swam under the boat as we were shut down watching it. We had seen this whale several times before this season, but it had never been interested in us!

The fin whale known as Crow circled around us, and seemed interested in us as well, which is pretty rare for a fin whale! We saw Crow a couple weeks ago, and we have been watching this whale in our area since 1998! We haven’t seen him in several years so it was exciting to have him back in our neighborhood!

Wednesday afternoon, our eagle-eyed friend on the upper deck spotted a blow in the distance. We headed that way and found a pair of humpbacks! These two were seen on the morning trip, but they weren’t associated with one another. Whale dynamics always surprise us. 

Then, we found an awesome trio of fin whales moving quickly through the area but giving us great looks. The lighting was perfect for seeing their distinctive chevron markings. 

As we continued on, we found another pair of humpback whales, Springboard and Elephant! On our way home, we took a quick detour to look at another fin whale!

 Thursday morning’s trip started off cloudy and cool but ended up sunny and warm! I know none of you care about the weather. We saw some pretty cool whales, including two large fin whales and multiple humpback whales! The fin whales were pretty chill and not moving around too quickly.

We were only able to get ID’able photos of three of them, but it was nice to see so many around! Humpback whales, Elephant and Springboard, are still hanging out together! 

And Fleck was spotted again- only our second time ever seeing that whale!

Stay tuned for Thursday afternoon's trip!

July 1-2, 2024

Happy July! Summer is in full swing and so is the whale activity! On Monday morning, we saw five fin whales and three humpback whales. 

Humpback whale

The sleek fin whales were moving around a good bit, but with a little patience, we got some great looks. 

Fin whale

Our humpback whales included two we have seen earlier this season, and a new visitor for the year! On Monday afternoon, plenty of baleen whales continued, with over 10 fin whales seen during the trip, including a mother-calf pair AND a group of four fin whales!! Fin whales are stunning and so impressive! 

Fin whales moving through the beautiful ocean

Mother-calf fin whale pair!!

Three (of the four) fin whales associated together!

We also spent time with a humpback whale, along with a small pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins and a basking shark. 

Humpback whale in glass calm seas

Dolphin

Tip of a basking shark's dorsal fin

Tuesday was pristine. You couldn't ask for better weather conditions - almost flat calm seas and visibility for miles on both trips. Add in some incredible wildlife, and it was a day to remember, for all sorts of reasons. As one of our passengers said, our morning trip was "bountiful", and it truly was. We ended up in an area where we were surrounded by whales! 

What a special treat to be privy to so much marine life moving around us. In total, there were five humpback whales (New Jersey, Picket, Springboard, Elephant, and Dome), multiple small pods of Atlantic white-sided dolphins, a pair of fin whales and two basking sharks. Stunning sights! 

Humpback whales

Fin whale pair

Atlantic white-sided dolphins

Basking shark

On the afternoon trip, sightings went to a whole other level. We first started with a pair of humpback whales. 

Humpback whale

Humpback whale pair

Close by was an ocean sunfish and as we moved further offshore, we saw four fin whales in total. 

Ocean sunfish

Fin whale

And then there was a BLUE WHALE!!! 

BLUE WHALE

Many thanks to our whale watching friends to the north, they reported a blue whale in the area, and it was still around. OH MY GOSH!!! The last time a blue whale was seen by the Granite State was in 2018! What a rare sighting, in the most beautiful conditions possible, and a life whale for many of our crew. The sighting is still giving us goosebumps. Literally, the largest animal on earth (EVER!), was in our area. Who knows where this whale may go next, but for a brief moment in time it visited us, and we are forever grateful. Wow.

BLUE WHALE