Wednesday, July 22

The mid-work-week provided some great Minke whale watching today. This morning we first started with our familiar friend Scar.

Scar

This whale was doing so many circles around the area that at one point we just sat there with our engines turned off and watched this whale swim all around us.

Scar surfacing for a breath of air

We even got a chance to have this whale swim in towards us on multiple occasions getting some incredible looks at the scar this whale has along its back.

Incoming Scar seeing a slightly different angle of its scar

As we traveled along we ended up seeing four more Minke whales, all in one area. We can identify these whale from one another based on the shape of their dorsal fins. Check out a few of the other whales we saw below to see how differently shaped their dorsal fins are:

Other Minke whales seen this morning (above and below)

Before heading for home we found ourselves near Boon Island and so we decided to see if any seals were around to view before starting our travels back towards Rye Harbor.

Such a beautiful ocean as we approached Boon Island

Seals both in and out of the water

This afternoon we stopped on multiple occasions in attempts to watch Minke whales in the area. Each time we stopped we were unable to relocate our whales. There was no doubt we were definitely having a challenging time. But, just as whales are extremely unpredictable (in both good and difficult ways) our luck changed in just a matter of time. Out in the distance we saw a massive splash. And then another. There was a whale out in the distance jumping clear out of the water. Since we know whales can start and stop this type of behavior at any moment we quickly made our way over towards this splashing. Well were we lucky or what. Our hard-working Blue Ocean Society interns, Corie and Lauren, recorded our Minke whale jump out of the water 21 times while we watched this whale.

Minke whale breach! Looks like this whale is a female based on the mammary slits we can see on this whale's belly!

Dorsal fin of our extremely active Minke whale that we now know the gender of!

So crazy! We were all in awe as we watched this whale launch its entire body out of the water over and over and over again.

Minke whale body

This type of behavior does not happen often so when you are lucky to be witness to a whale jumping out of the water just once it is truly an experience and one to remember. And perhaps more importantly we should all also remember that all whales can leap out of the water but it is not a normal occurrence by any stretch of the means.

Torpedo-like effect of a Minke whale jumping out of the water!

Tuesday, July 21

Today required some patience. This morning it took a while before we came across a whale. We started in fog, ended in fog and found ourselves in and out of it all during our travels. Many thanks to our offshore fishing friends as we got news of a whale sighting. We made our way to the reported area and found a very familiar whale. It was Scar! We were able to get some very nice looks at a whale that was first documented on the Granite State in 1995!

Scar Minke (above and below)

This afternoon we once again found ourselves departing Rye Harbor in the fog. This time however, we managed to break free and found ourselves surrounded by many more miles of visibility!

A few of the harbor porpoise seen soon after leaving Rye Harbor this afternoon

Soon we found ourselves spending time with a Fin whale moving about. Thanks to our other whale watching friends, once they had gotten a chance to watch this whale, we were fortunate enough to get a few looks at such a large mammal.

First Fin whale seen this afternoon

Fin whales have such large bodies!

Our trip ended after another sighting of a Fin whale but this time there were 2 Fin whales together! These whales were spending a good amount of time under the water, definitely on the move, and so it took us a bit of time to get some nice looks at these whales. Our patience paid off for at one point we watched both these whale surface nearby as they cruised through the water with such ease. As we watched these animals it took only a few seconds to confirm our thoughts. We had another extremely familiar whale close by and for that matter another Blue Ocean Society adopt-a-whale! It was Ladder! A whale that is almost ALWAYS seen swimming alongside another Fin whale.

Ladder

Ladder has such an angled spout we sometimes can guess if we are watching this whale based on its angled spout before confirming our thoughts with more distinguishing characteristics

Fin whale associated with Ladder

What a special surprise as this is only the second time we have seen Ladder so far this season. A great way to wrap up our time offshore before we found ourselves once again engulfed by fog as we got back to Rye Harbor.

Monday, July 20

This morning we started with a large Fin whale on the move. Unfortunately we lost track of this whale as the fog passed over us.

First Fin whale of the day before the fog rolled in

While we were unable to relocate our Fin whale there were plenty of Minke whales around to check out. In total we saw 9 Minke whales all throughout our travels.

One of our Minke whales getting quite close to one of the many buoys out in the open ocean. We are always keeping an eye out to make sure any whale we see is gear-free and hopefully remains that way while we are there. Luckily this whale scooted around the gear as we watched it surface a few minutes later heading in a different direction

After a quick stop at Boon Island to see a few seals we pressed on to some other offshore waters.

Seals

Before the trip was over we ended up finding a pair of Fin whales traveling along together. One of our whales was a familiar friend as we found Crow (first seen by us yesterday for the first time on Jeffreys Ledge this year) along with another large friend.

Crow the Fin whale

Other Fin whale moving around with Crow

Fin whale surfacing so close to us as we sat there watching them turn into towards us, swim alongside us and eventually move on

At one point we even had a Minke whale appear to join along in the movements of these Fin whales giving us a beautiful comparison between a Minke whale and one of the second-largest mammals on Earth, a Fin whale.

Fin whale body in the foreground and Minke whale in the background. A great snapshot of how large Fin whales really are!

This afternoon we were excited to go find some of the same whales we had come across this morning. Little did we know the whales had other ideas. We ended up doing a lot of searching this afternoon in some beautiful conditions. We did spot 2 Blue sharks and eventually ended up finding 5 Minke whales in total. No Fin whales in sight but we got some really nice looks at many of our Minke whales moving through the area.

One of our afternoon Minke whales

We also were fortunate enough to find ourselves near Boon Island again to snap a few photos of many of the seals hauled out on the rocks.

More seals to see this afternoon!

We are always incredible fortunate to spend time with just one wild whale we go in search for and what we like so much about wildlife is that it is always different and new each time we are in search of such incredible nature.

Sunday, July 19

This morning we began our trip with plenty of fog and haze surrounding us. However, as the morning went on our visibility continued to improve. Once surrounded by much more ideal conditions we were ready to get eyes on some whales. First we came across a Fin whale.

Morning Fin whale in beautiful ocean conditions

This whale was a very familiar whale and one we have yet to see in our area thus far this season. It was Crow and we were super excited to see and spend time with this whale. At first Crow was on the move but after a few patient dives we got some phenomenal looks as this whale was swimming alongside us.

Great look at Crow's chevron pattern and small snippet of its white lower jaw

Crow's dorsal fin

We also saw a Minke whale darting around when we were watching Crow and even 2 Blue sharks during our travels this morning.

Blue shark dorsal fin above the waterline

This afternoon we headed in a slightly different direction and first came into an area where there were at least 4 Minke whales around. We watched all these whales dart back and forth for a bit before pressing on. Not far into our movements we found a spout.

One of the many Minke whales scooting around the boat this afternoon

There was a Fin whale and another familiar fin at that; it was Streak! What a day of finding some familiar animals back in our area.

Streak the Fin whale

We decided to press on and do some more searching for whales after a brief stop near Boon Island to check out the marine life residing there.

Birds and seals on Boon Island

Lastly, before we ended up heading for home (and avoiding the storm clouds) we got a quick glance at a pair of traveling Fin whales.

Storm clouds we were watching closely throughout our afternoon travels

Distant look at our pair of Fin whales on the move (above and below). Note the differently shaped dorsal fins that distinguish each of these whales from one another.

Friday, July 17

I always say that every trip is different. Well, today our trips were somewhat similar! This morning, we found some minke whales, a fin whale and some quick looks at some harbor porpoises. This afternoon, we found a fin whale, a few minkes and a quick look at some harbor porpoises! The difference was that this afternoon, we ventured to southern Jeffreys Ledge to check out a report of a humpback whale in that area. When we arrived, other whale watch boats were there but the whale was no where to be found! Wildlife is, well, wild after all. They come and go as they please which is why watching whales in the wild is so spectacular! We get to see them on their terms, not ours.   The coolest part of todays' trips was that the fin whale was pretty close to shore! Often we need to travel at least 10 miles from land to find whales but this huge fin whale was about 4 miles offshore. Perhaps it was feeding on the same schools of mackerel that the fishing boats were seeking. Could this be the start of the inshore fin whale sightings like we had last summer??

Morning minke whale

Morning minke whale

Boats should respect the whales and travel at safe speeds around whales!

Fin whale spout

Morning fin whale

Afternoon fin whale's chevron/blaze markings

Afternoon fin whale- the same as the morning fin whale!

Thursday, July 16

Today we came across a Fin whale that at first appeared to be behaving extremely uncooperatively (which is completely acceptable considering we go in search of wild animals!). This whale was barely showing any of its body when it took a breath of air and we were lucky if it even surfaced more than once in a 5 minutes time-frame. Luckily, while this whale was not spending much time at the surface, it also appeared not to be moving much either. Eventually we realized what was going on... This whale was actually napping! It was remaining just below the waterline, sometimes just out of view, hovering in a stationary state before eventually surfacing for a single breath or air.

Our Fin whale just barely showcasing any of its body above the waterline

We went from thinking we had such a hard-to-watch whale to an animal that we could sit there and keep track of for such a long period of time!

Gorgeous chevron pattern (grey-shading pattern) of our Fin whale

Afternoon Fin whale slowly going on a deeper dive

We spent some very nice quality time with this whale before sneaking away. During our travels we also passed by multiple Blue sharks but unfortunately they too were remaining just below the surface, so much so, that it was tough to keep eyes on them as we attempted to check out a few of these shark sightings. Eventually it was time to head for home which we did after quickly stopping near Boon Island to see both grey seals and harbor seals enjoying "sun-bathing" on the rocks.

Colony of grey seals on one tip of the Boon Island rocks

Harbor seals watching us watching them!

Seals enjoying the sun just like us humans like to!