September 17, 2025

We ventured offshore on Wednesday to some beautiful sea conditions that made spotting whales as easy as it comes! Our trip started with a single, sleepy humpback whale, Jabiru. After spending some time with this whale, we were able to spot the spout of another whale out in the distance. We said goodbye to Jabiru and then made our way over to our next humpback whale, Clamp.

Clamp Kick-feeding

Clamp filtering saltwater

Distant fluke

Clamp put on an incredible display of surface feeding behavior while we sat by idle. Eventually, we decided to press on, seeing another whale nearby. On our way over, we got a brief glimpse at a blue shark.

Blue shark dorsal and tail fin

Our next whale turned out to be Valley the humpback whale, who was spending quite a bit of time underneath the surface.

On our travels back in towards Rye, we encountered Clamp once again, but this time there was another pair of humpback whales traveling through the area. After waiting out a surfacing, these whales were revealed to be Grommet and Partition.

Grommet diving

September 13-14, 2025

While whales were waiting for us offshore on Saturday, so was the wind (which has been a regular this month, quite unwelcome, and was not in the original forecast). Even in the waves, though, it is always impressive to watch whales move through the water with such ease. We started with a fin whale. While this whale wasn't spending too much time holding its breath, it was always surfacing in a different direction. 

Fin whale

We watched this whale for a bit before focusing our attention on another spout. This whale ended up being Pinball, the humpback whale. While watching this whale, a second fin whale surfaced nearby! The trip wrapped up with Satula, the humpback whale, moving in yet another direction.

Diving humpback whale

Fin whale

Satula

At long last, everything seemed to finally come together on Sunday. The skies were clear and the seas were calm (about time, Mother Nature, thank you!). Our first stop was on a pair of humpback whales, Fan and Repeat. These whales were being mellow, and we enjoyed watching them in the beautiful ocean. 

Humpback whale tail

Pair of humpback whales

Next on the list was a pod of approximately 30 Atlantic white-sided dolphins. This tight-knit group was casually on the move. 

Dolphins

We then spent time with humpback whales, Spoon and Valley. While these whales were mostly napping, Spoon flipper-slapped a couple times, and one of them even breached (missed on camera, but VERY impressive!)  

Spoon's flipper

We also found two fin whales, including Pacman, a quick look at minke whale passing us by, and three more humpback whales. So much to look at! 

Diving humpback whale

Fin whale

Trio of humpback whales

Quote joined up with Victim and Chromosome, and that's when more activity began. We saw flipper-slapping, tail breaching, and multiple head breaches in between napping sessions, of course. 😃 It was the full spectrum of behaviors, any one of them incredible to witness. 

Mid-tailbreach

Whale breach in flat calm seas

September 3, 2025

The forecast for Wednesday afternoon was very much ahead of schedule as we were met with high winds and seas during our travels offshore. Above the swell and the chop, we could see a large concentration of birds out in the distance, hovering over the remains of an animal that had passed on. We almost continued on towards whales we were seeing a ways away, until we inspected a photo we had taken of the carcass from a distance... a fin just behind it. We circled back and waited for a minute. Finally, we saw what we were looking for.

Blue shark feeding on animal remains

Blue shark feeding on its side

Blue shark

Wilson's Storm Petrels

We watched in awe as several blue sharks circled around the remains, occasionally moving in to take chunks from it. This is something much of our crew has never seen before, and won't forget anytime soon. It is unfortunate when we see marine life that passed on near the surface, but it is reassuring to know that they are playing their part in the food web, providing energy to countless other marine species. 

Trio of humpback whales

After leaving the sharks and seabirds behind, we made our way towards the whales we had been keeping our eyes on. This was revealed to be a trio of humpbacks, consisting of Spoon, Jabiru, and Clamp. These three whales we slowly making their way towards a large group of boats at anchor, so we switched our gaze to a pair of humpback whales swimming the opposite direction.

Humpbacks diving

This pair of whales was made up of Grommet and Gunslinger. Eventually, it was time to make our way back towards home. Along the way, we briefly stopped by the group of birds and sharks gathering near the surface, before continuing on.

August 30-31 and September 1, 2025

Happy Labor Day weekend! The summer season has flown by, and the whales are keeping us busy. On Saturday morning, we saw four humpback whales, a fin whale, and a basking shark. A few of our humpback whales were so close to the Isles of Shoals! 

Humpback whale with White Island Lighthouse in the background

Humpback whales included Pixar, Clamp, Valley, and Chromosome. 

Humpback whale pair

Fin whale

Basking shark

Our trip on Saturday afternoon started with a look at an ocean sunfish before making our way further offshore. 

Ocean sunfish

 We then found eight humpback whales, a fin whale, and a small pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins. 

Atlantic white-sided dolphins

Diving humpback whale

Humpback whale

The whales were mostly in pairs, and because of their proximity to each other, there was almost always a spout somewhere around us. Individuals included Owl, Spoon, Fan, Solo, Grommet, Gunslinger, Chromosome, and Valley.

Pair of humpback whales

Fan

We had such a crisp horizon on Sunday. You could see forever in search of distant spouts. On our morning trip, we spent time with seven humpback whales and a pod of approximately 200(!) Atlantic white-sided dolphins. We had single whales, pairs, and even a trio of humpback whales. 

One humpback whale (above) and three below!

Sightings included Repeat, Fan, Spoon, Pixar, Pinball, Valley, and Chromosome. 

Valley

Then there were the dolphins. They were scattered in every direction around the boat.

Dolphins

Our Sunday afternoon conditions were just as perfect, and the sightings, just as fun! We started with Victim, the humpback whale, off the coast of Maine. Further offshore, we spent time with Pixar, the humpback whale. 

Whale spout

Next on the sightings list was a fin whale with another further in the distance. 

Fin whale

We then checked out a trio of humpback whales (Clamp, Spoon, and Fan). As if that wasn't enough, we wrapped up the day with Repeat, the humpback whale, during our travels home.

Trio of humpback whales

Synchronized dives

Our trip on Monday continued with plenty of marine life. We saw five humpback whales, two pods of dolphins, and an ocean sunfish. We first started with Repeat, the humpback whale. 

After a few looks, we pressed on and found a pod of approximately 15 Atlantic white-sided dolphins. 

Atlantic white-sided dolphins (above and below)

While this pod wasn't large, they were so much fun to watch. These toothed whales were zipping through the water alongside the boat, providing beautiful looks as they maneuvered gracefully through the waves. We then spent time with a trio of sleepy humpback whales - Spoon, Jabiru, and Clamp. 

This trio was accompanied by a small group of approximately five Atlantic white-sided dolphins! We slowly meandered along with the dolphins, and eventually, the humpback whales would resurface. 

All three humpback whales at the surface

Spoon

Our last few sightings of the trip were on the ride home, when we got the chance to check out an ocean sunfish and another humpback whale. You never know when something will be nearby. That's why we are always on the lookout to see what fun sighting we will come across next!