Friday, June 20

When we say no two trips are ever alike, we mean it. Today's morning and afternoon trips couldn't have been more different from each other, and yet both amazing!

The morning trip ventured out towards the middle part of Jeffreys Ledge. On our way there we found three fin whales cruising around. Although all were more than cooperative, we have only identified one so far: #0902!  Minke whales were in the mix as well and we even got a quick glimpse of the "minke mittens" as one passed us closely!

Fin whale 0902

Minke Whale

As we pressed on, we noticed a light shadow just below the surface close to the boat. A friendly basking shark was just subsurface yet very accommodating. It appeared to be resting- not moving too quickly, and not apparently feeding, but we got some amazing close looks just before it turned towards us and dove.

A bit further out, on the edge of the Ledge, we found four more fin whales! They seemed to be in every direction we looked! These massive animals never cease to amaze. Their grace and and agility is incomparable by far!

For the afternoon trip, we decided to be adventurous and head out to the southern-most part of the Ledge, to an area near Tillies Bank. We had heard a report of different whales and even though it was a longer ride, we figured we could use a little diversity.

After a long ride, we finally started seeing some white water and spouts. It appeared that we were amongst the humpback whales now!  Before we knew it, we were seeing whales all around us. And these whales were hungry! We looked down into the water and saw zillions of sand eels trying to escape the jaws of the hungry humpbacks! 

Humpback whale surfacing with its mouth wide open!

Some of the humpbacks were using bubble clouds and spiral-shaped bubble nets to corral their prey, while others were using the kick-feeding behavior to possibly stun their prey. It was an incredible afternoon of feeding, all while being surrounded by thousands of shearwaters (Great, Sooty and Cory's) and a couple of fulmars.

Humpback kick-feeding

In a bubble cloud

Today was the perfect day to view whales in their natural habitat- perfect sea conditions and awesome whale behaviors! We don't know what tomorrow will bring but we are hopeful that the whales (and their food) will stick around for a while.

Thursday June 19

Today was certainly a grand day. Great weather, plenty of whales and while every sighting is a special moment we certainly had a few extra special sightings on our trips today. Our first whale of the day was a Minke whale as we ventured offshore.

This Minke whale has an incredibly unique dorsal fin!

This was just the beginning for soon we ended up in an area with 5 Fin whales. A few were circling around, a few were traveling through the area, and two were moving around side by side. One of the whales in the pair has been around on Jeffreys Ledge over the past week but definitely not in this particular region of the Ledge. Along side this whale was a very familiar Fin whale. #0622 has returned to Jeffreys Ledge for another year!

Fin whale #0622

This is the first time we have seen this whale this season and what fun to have it swimming in synchrony with another familiar whale of the season. We checked out a few of the other whales in the area before we needed to start heading for home.

Yet another Fin whale we spent time with today

A Fin whale and a few Wilson's Storm Petrels flying around as we started on our journey home

Along our way we spotted a Minke whale. It didn't take long to notice not only was there more than one Minke whale but one of these whales certainly appeared to be much smaller than the other. Almost as soon as we realized what we had come across our validation occurred. It was a mother and calf Minke whale pair!!!! Just to put this into perspective the crew and captain have never seen a mom/calf Minke whale pair in 20+ years!!!!

Mama Minke whale!

Minke whale calf

As we slowed down to check out this incredible sighting the calf started to act very "calf-like" as it poked its head out of the water, rolled on its side, and created plenty of white water with all its rolling activity.

Minke Mom's body and dorsal fin and a small white object in the foreground. That white patch is actually the "Minke mitten" of the calf's flipper. This calf is rolled over on its side with its flipper above the waterline!

Soon the calf began to surface close to mom as both of them circled around the area. Absolutely incredible and just goes to show at any moment at any time we can see some amazing wildlife on our trips.

Minke whale Mom (right) and calf (left) moving through the water together

This afternoon we started the trip with a Basking shark. A big shark inshore of the Ledge was a great way to get all of our passengers excited for the afternoon.

First Basking shark of the afternoon

Soon we were once again surrounded by Fin whales. At one point we had 4 whales all around us. Whale spouts in every direction. Awesome.

Great look at the white lower jaw of this Fin whale

Oh but that wasn't the only creature in the area. Low and behold ANOTHER Basking shark was swimming by.

Basking shark #2 of the day!

In general we often times do not see any sharks on our trips but today we were fortunate enough to check out TWO of the second largest sharks in the world. Fantastic.

The tip of the tail (left) and the dorsal fin (right) of our second Basking shark of the trip

Soon we went back to whale watching after checking out this other large fish and got some great looks at the Fin whales in the area.

One of the afternoon Fin whales

On our way home we even passed by a few more Fin whales. Whales here, there and everywhere!

Fin whale spout with Portsmouth, NH in the background

Tuesday June 17

Low and behold another day out on Jeffreys Ledge had us surprised once again today. This morning we saw a Minke whale, a sleeping Grey seal, and 3 Fin whales.

Grey seal taking a nap!

Not only did we get some great looks at everything we saw but our 3 Fin whales were new visitors to the area for the season.

New whale for the season: Fin whale #0808

All three of these whales were in the same area moving around in all different directions. As is the case for Fin whales in general, each of these whales were distinctly different from one another in their own ways.

Another first Fin whale sighting for the season, Fin whale #0902

Unfortunately most of our morning whales had predominant scarring visible. While this is a great way to tell one whale apart from another these scars are a direct result of human-related activities.

The right and left sides of this Fin whale (above and below) are definitely full of noticeable scars

Entanglements in fishing gear and ships strikes from vessels of all sizes are threats all whales have to deal with each and every day. Luckily all of these whales survived through their incidents but it is definitely a problem for whales everywhere.

This afternoon we ventured back offshore and ended up seeing completely different whales than the ones we had seen in the morning. Instead we were looking at a few familiar fins. Both of our Fin whales this afternoon have been seen over the past few days out on the Ledge.

#9618 still spending time in our area

The scarring seen on this whale helps us to know it is one of the same whales we have seen on some of our recent trips

It is always good to find some of the exact same animals spending multiple days on the Ledge. They must be finding enough food to keep them around. Great for us and great for the whales!

Monday June 16

Today was filled with some of the largest creatures on earth. This morning we had 2 Fin whales and this afternoon we were back in the same area where there were 4 Fin whales around. The breeze felt on land was not reaching offshore this morning which gave us some beautiful conditions for whale spotting. We got a chance to show our full boat of kids a couple of the second largest animals in the world. What perfect conditions to truly get a sense as to just how large these 60+ft animals really are.

Fin whale are so big!!!

"Fin"tastic look at the white lower jaw above the waterline of this Fin whale

Nothing like hearing the "ohhhhs" and "ahhhhhhs" from all around the boat as this young generation of minds became elated in seeing such incredible creatures. We were even fortunate enough to find a whale we know to be at least 30 years old, Fin whale #9618.

Fin whale #9618

This whale is so much older than all the kids we had sharing in our experience today. How very cool. We even found an unexpected find offshore. Called a Monkfish veil this ribbon-like object (seen below) are Monk fish eggs awaiting to hatch.

Monkfish veil

We certainly have fun pointing out all the different and interesting things we may see during any one of our trips. 

This afternoon we ventured back offshore and got a chance to see some of the exact same whales from this morning dart all around the area. They were circling, moving around quickly and even slightly rolling under the water.

One of our afternoon Fin whales

This photo is of a Fin whale. The fin seen on the right is the whale's dorsal fin and the tip seen above the water on the left is actually the tip of this whale's tail!

A few of the Fin whales we were watching were literally surfacing in completely opposite directions each time they took a breath, all within a matter of seconds! So cool seeing a 60+ton whale change directions so rapidly! We look forward to seeing what the Ledge has in store for us when we are back out there once again tomorrow.

Another great day with some great whale sightings!

Happy Father's Day!

Wishing all the fathers who joined us today, and fathers everywhere, a very happy day! It was a beautiful day to be on the water with sightings of Fin whales on both of our trips. This morning we started with one inside of Jeffreys Ledge.

Fin whale #1 of the day

Eventually this whale seemed to be swimming closer to shore and we wanted to head offshore so we parted ways and pressed on. We got the chance to end our trip with two other Fin whales and got some incredible looks at both of them. One of these whales was a familiar fin for us. It was #9618, a whale first sighted in the Gulf of Maine in 1984. 30 years later and this whale is still showing up to feed in the area!

Welcome back to the Ledge Fin whale #9618

What a fun sighting for the day. With a few more looks at this known whale we decided to check out the other whale in the area to get some photo-documentation of this other animal before it was time to head home.

The other Fin whale cruising around the area this morning

Check out the interesting markings along the body of this Fin whale

By documenting everything we see on our trips we can continue to learn about all the kinds of marine life that utilizes Jeffreys Ledge year after year.

Fin whales are so large!

This afternoon we did a bit of exploring since we had such incredibly calm conditions. While sightings came up short it is always good to do some searching as we never know what is out there until you look. Eventually we made our way back towards where we had seen whales in the morning. 2 Fin whales and a Minke whale were now meandering around.

Hello flat calm ocean and a massive Fin whale!

Soon though there was another creature close by. It was a Basking shark! What a nice find to add to our sightings as we got the chance to see one of the second largest sharks in the world (Basking shark) and a couple of the second largest whales in the world (Fin whale).

Basking shark spending time in the area too!

If you look through all the pollen on the water (the tons of yellow marks on the water) you can see our Basking shark

Beautiful weather and some great sightings today certainly made for a very successful Father's Day out on the open ocean.

Fin whale exhaling

Wednesday June 11

We may not have seen the sun throughout the whole trip today but the seas were once again in our favor as it was flat as flat calm as it could be again today. Just perfect condition for whale watching. Our first stop of the day was a Minke whale as we headed out towards Jeffreys Ledge. But this wasn't just any old Minke whale. It was Scar Minke, a whale that was photographed aboard the Granite State in 1995 (due to the dedication and fascination of whales in the area even years ago)! This whale has been known to spend time in our area for 19 years!!!

This Minke whale is the most documented Minke whale seen on Jeffreys Ledge. Great to see you again Scar Minke!

That amount of time, almost two decades, is quite impressive for a species of whale that can be tricky to get looks at. What a phenomenal way to start our trip with today.

You can really see the large indentation just in front of this Minke whale's dorsal fin. This whale has looked like this ever since it was first seen in 1995 so whatever the impact this whale encountered years ago we are thrilled to know it is still doing well

We then made our way to the Ledge and spent some time with a single Fin whale. This whale was spending a bit of time in the depths of the ocean but managed to get some very nice looks as this whale eventually slowed down a bit.

Fin whale about to go on a dive

Fin whale body and dorsal fin

We headed a bit further offshore before we knew we'd be out of time for further exploration and saw a pair of spouts out in the distance. Soon we were watching a pair of Fin whales on the move together. And then it got even better. Low and behold who did we have swimming alongside us? It was another VERY familiar whale. Ladder the Fin whale is back on Jeffreys Ledge!!!!! This whale was first seen in the Gulf of Maine in 1984, meaning this whale is at least 30 years old and is very much a regular to Jeffreys Ledge. On top of that this whale is almost always seen swimming with another Fin whale, even though this species as a whole are known to be solitare animals.

Ladder the Fin whale (with its scar visible forward of its dorsal fin) while its "friend" breaks the surface in the foreground

The other Fin whale, or "friend," Ladder was swimming around with

Some incredible sightings with incredible conditions made for quite the treat whale watching today.

Fin whale spouts on the flat calm ocan