Friday, June 17

Today’s adventures took us towards Jeffreys Ledge again where we found a basking shark not far past the Isles of Shoals!  Unfortunately, this shark was a little shy and hid beneath the surface right after we pointed it out. But a few lucky folks on the bow definitely saw it! Basking sharks (the 2^nd largest fish in the ocean) have been fairly common so far this year.  

As we headed out further, we came upon a minke whale. In total, we saw 4 different minke whales today but they all seemed to have the same agenda- elusive. Often we get amazing looks at minkes and can even tell them apart, but no such luck today.   Next up was a very nice fin whale (2^nd largest species of whale in the world). After a couple of looks at this cooperative creature, we identified it as #9724 in Blue Ocean Society’s catalog.

 This whale was seen the other day as well! #9724 was first documented by researchers in 1986! I wonder how old he is. (Also, this whale has never been seen with a calf so we ignorantly assume it’s a male.)   

#9724 also let us know that he has been feeding on a whole lot of herring or mackerel by leaving a huge brown cloud, almost the size of our boat, behind him! When you gotta go, you gotta go!!

For fans of the TV show Wicked Tuna, we saw tuna boat Pin Wheel anchored up in an attempt to catch a bluefin tuna!

We continued our search and came upon a second fin whale as well as a couple of the other minkes. As wild animals are wild, they don’t always cooperate with us. This fin whale was showing us just how amazing they are at holding their breath and traveling quickly.  Soon it was time to head for home and soon after we thought we left the 2^nd fin whale, we spotted it again briefly ahead of us.

I also want to thank our special guests from New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance for helping out with data collection and being available on deck to teach our guests a bit more about our wonderful Gulf of Maine inhabitants!

Thursday, June 16

It was another gorgeous day on the water. We were able to get some great looks at some of the multiple whales and multiple sharks seen throughout our trip today. In total, we saw 2 Basking sharks, 5 Minke whales and 3 Fin whales. Our first Basking shark disappeared into the depths of the ocean fairly quickly but we luckily found another one offshore which gave us a great opportunity to see one of the second largest sharks on earth!

Basking shark dorsal fin (left) and tail fin (right)

Minke whales continued to appear here and there all during the trip but we did stop and check out the first one of the day inshore of Jeffreys Ledge.

First whale of the day, a Minke whale

Our final species of the day was the Fin whale, spending time with 2 of the 3 sighted. These whales had enough distinguishing characteristics in the field that we could identify them as #9724 and #9709; both whales first sighted in the Jeffreys Ledge area in 1997!

Fin whale #9724

Second Fin whale of the day, #9709

Wednesday, June 15

We were privy to some gorgeous ocean conditions on both of our trips today. This morning we took our school group out and found a large Basking shark, a Fin whale known as Dingle and a Minke whale.

Subsurface Basking shark swimming towards the boat

Dingle the Fin whale

Nothing like seeing one of the second largest sharks in the world (the Basking shark) as well as one of the second largest animals on earth (the Fin whale) to a group of eager-learning students.

Fin whale body

This afternoon the ocean continued producing plenty of marine life sightings. We saw 8 Minke whales throughout the trip; checking out a handful of them while passing by a few others.

First Minke whale of the afternoon

Minke whale diving in glass-like ocean conditions

We also had our first Ocean sunfish of the season as we headed out to Jeffreys Ledge.

Ocean sunfish

Our Ocean sunfish swimming towards us

In addition, we got a chance to spend some time with Dingle the Fin whale again.

Dingle the Fin whale barely creating a disturbance at the surface when getting a breath of air

The day ended when we saw 3 Basking sharks while heading back to Rye Harbor. What a great day all around!

Basking shark dorsal fin in a beautifully calm ocean

Basking shark fin above the surface

Tuesday, June 14

As we made our way offshore today the wind slacked off and we found ourselves surrounded by a beautifully calm ocean. During our trip we saw 3 Fin whales but these whales were doing a great job moving around so we decided to move on. Along the way we had 2 Minke whales pop up over the course of the day. Our trip also included two Humpback whales creating a few bubble clouds.

Humpback whale tail

Both Owl and Hornbill spent the afternoon maneuvering around but never becoming associated with one another.

Owl

Hornbill

Our last sighting of the day occurred on our ride back in when we came across a MASSIVE Basking shark! With the surface of the ocean being so calm you could see the whole body of this shark as it swam so close to the boat! What a special treat to end an already great day.

Our Basking shark was so close to the boat I could only capture a portion of its body at any moment! Can you see the open mouth of this shark?

Head, open mouth, gills and fins of our Basking shark

Monday, June 13

Today our travels took us to Jeffreys Ledge itself before we found our first whale which was a Minke whale that started swimming in circles around us.

Minke whale

After some nice looks at this Minke whale we went to investigate a distant spout we had been keeping an eye on. What eventually surfaced nearby? A Humpback whale. And not just any Humpback whale. One that is a favorite among us at Granite State Whale Watch. It was Owl, an adoptable whale, thanks to the Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation!

Owl's back including her distinctive scar; an old ship strike wound that she was fortunate enough to survive through.

This was our first time seeing this familiar whale this season so it was a very special treat to come across her today.

Owl

We had some quality looks as this whale was slowly steadily on the move. Soon it was time to head for home but during our travels we even swung by a Basking shark that was moseying along. We are now whale watching seven days a week so come join us on an adventure anytime. See you soon!

Saturday, June 11

The wind and rain stayed away (mostly) just long enough for us to venture out to Jeffreys Ledge. Unfortunately, we didn't find any whales on the Ledge, but we did find 4 minke whales in between the mainland and the Ledge! One minke whale in particular was amazing to watch! It was taking short dives and frequently surfaced near the boat! We all got great looks at it's pointed nose, white flipper patches and curved fin.

Two other minkes were in the area of our cooperative friend, but were a bit more elusive. We then continued on to search other areas only to find no other whales, but a lot of Wilson's storm petrels.  On our way in, we spotted another minke whale but this one apparently didn't want to be watched. We saw it twice and then it vanished. Such is nature! I wonder what we'll find on our next adventure!

Wednesday, June 8

We had another school trip today and so off we went to the open ocean this morning. Our first stop of the day was Humpback whale #0050. We all got some great looks at this whale since the majority of the time this whale just circled around, remaining relatively close to the boat the whole time!

Humpback whale #0050 (above and below)

We ventured further offshore, passing by 2 Minke whales, and ended up coming across 3 Fin whales. These whales were spending a bit more time below the surface and moving around in sporadic movements making watching these whales a bit more challenging. It was still impressive however, having multiple of the second largest mammals on earth around us!

Fin whale

Many thanks to our group for always keeping a look out for whales and spending a nice day with massive wildlife!