Friday, July 20, 2018

This morning we headed back to where we were watching whales yesterday and were happy to find that they were still in the general neighborhood! We watched a couple minke whales close to the boat before finding a nice pod of Atlantic white sided dolphins! 

minke whale

Atlantic white sided dolphin

It was glassy calm- perfect conditions for viewing dolphins underwater. 

Next we passed by a couple more minke whales and then found two humpback whales: Hornbill and Clamp. They were blowing deep bubble clouds to catch their prey. 

Hornbill

 We headed for home and soon spotted even more whales! At first, Nine and Milkyway were separate and a 3^rd whale was around.

Nine

Then, suddenly, all three got together causing quite the commotion! Banyan was the new whale and a new visitor to the area this year! The trio was charging around and at one point, Nine swam right up to the boat, passed underneath us, and dove on the opposite side! 

Nine and Milkyway

Milkyway and Banyan

Harbor porpoises and harbor seals were also seen throughout the trip!  

This afternoon, the wind picked up so we couldn’t find the dolphins or porpoises. The whales, however, were great! We got some nice views of a minke whale and then found the humpback whale named Clamp. 

minke whale

humpback, Clamp

We stayed with her for a bit before moving on to a trio of humpback whales. Nine, Milkyway and Banyan were together at first. 

Then Banyan split off and was doing some kick-feeding while the two ladies were using deep bubble clouds to consolidate their prey.  

Humpback whale, Banyan

Banyan feeding

Milkyway

We shut down the boat and had the three humpback whales all around us, and close! Amazing views, especially of Banyan who was surfacing nose first in the patch of frothy water where he kicked his tail before diving!  We even saw him filtering water through his baleen! Another minke whale was seen briefly on the way home as well as a few harbor porpoises closer to shore.

Thursday, July 19, 2018

What a gorgeous trip this morning!  Minke whales, humpback whales, fin whales, oh my! A harbor seal and pod of harbor porpoises were also spotted!  At one point, all the whale species were in the same area, surrounding our boat!  Not often do we get images of two different species of whales in one photo!  

Fin whale swimming to the right, Humpback whale swimming to the left!

I’m still working on identifying the two fin whales, but our humpback whales were Hornbill, Clamp, Nine and Milkyway! At least one more humpback was also around.

Minke whale

Humpback whale

Hornbill

Humpback whale

Fin whale

Finwhale

This afternoon, we headed back to the whale hot spot. Even charter fishing boats were swinging by to check out the whales! Clamp had joined up with Nine and Milkyway, and when we first arrived, two of them breached clear out of the water! Amazing! Then Clamp began to lift her big flipper out of the water and smack it down on the surface. 

Humpback whale flipper

Both breaching and flipper-slapping are presumed to be communication behaviors, but just what they were communicating still remains a mystery.  Numerous minke whales were spotted throughout the trip and Hornbill was seen blowing clouds of bubble to corral his prey. 

A fin whale was seen briefly but we were not able to relocate it.  Before heading home, we passed through the area where the humpback trio was, and to our surprise, the group had increased in size! A fourth humpback whale had joined in! I know that I know this whale but the name is eluding me at the moment. Check back for updates!

Harbor porpoises were also seen on our way home, rounding out the adventure. Awesome day!

Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Clear skies were waiting for us as we headed out today after staying on land yesterday allowing the weather to pass. This morning we saw three fin whales, three humpback whales and seven minke whales.

Fin whale

Some whales were on the move while others were spending a decent amount of time at the surface. Known whales included humpback whales Clamp and Hancock.

Clamp (above and below)

Our first sighting of Hancock for the season!

This afternoon we ended up spending time with four humpback whales. Initially, we tried to check out a fin whale but it was not taking many breaths at the surface. Instead, humpback whales Nine and Milkyway mostly rested at the surface while we were in the area.

Nine and Milkyway

Nine diving

On the way home we crossed paths with another pair of humpback whales. Whirlygig and her 2018 calf were only three miles from the harbor! What a special treat to end the day with!

Whirlygig and her calf

Monday, July 16, 2018

One item remained constant today, the fog. Fog in the morning. Fog in the afternoon. Fog loves to be finicky. It can dissipate as quickly as it appears. It can completely disappear just a few miles of the coast. It comes and goes in a blink of an eye and today was no different. So we intently searched for marine life as much as possible and ultimately found life!

Our travels took us near Boon Island and so we checked out the seals lounging on the rocks through the fog this morning

This morning we came across three minke whales. One was being extremely fascinating each time it surfaced. This whale was exhaling under the water almost every time it was ready to surface. You could see the bubbles gather at the surface just before the whale came up.

Minke whale

We also had a few firsts. We saw our first ocean sunfish on a whale watch this season.

Ocean sunfish

Then the majority of our crew had a life marine mammal! A lone white-beaked dolphin was passing through the area. Such an unusual sight for this area of the ocean!

White-beaked dolphin!

The shading pattern of a white-beaked dolphin is much different than its cousin we normally find in these waters (the Atlantic white-sided dolphin)

This afternoon we continued to search plenty of areas. We ultimately got a chance to spend time with a trio of humpback whales. Clamp, Milkyway and Nine were resting. Almost the entire time we were in the area these three whales were napping. We got some fantastic views, even in the fog, of these whales.

Resting whales

Trio of humpback whales at the surface

Milkyway going on a dive

Sunday, July 15, 2018

This morning we remained well inshore of Jeffreys Ledge. We had 8 minke whales throughout our travels. Additionally, we spent time with four humpback whales. We started with Clamp before spending time with napping whales Nine and Milkyway. We ended our trip with Hornbill.

Clamp (above and below)

Nine randomly tail-breached in between its napping sessions

This afternoon we decided to venture to other areas, avoid the congestion of multiple whale watching vessels in the area, and see if other individual whales were around. Thanks to our fishing friends we spent time with Sedge the humpback whale. This whale was busy circling around never moving far from us. What fantastic looks!

Sedge (above and below)

We also had a total of 5 minke whales during this trip. The bird life was out and about as well this afternoon. We saw so many Wilson's storm petrels, more than we have seen in a long time this season. They were fluttering here, there and everywhere.

Wilson's storm petrel

Great shearwater and a Wilson's storm petrel

More petrels!

The day wrapped up as we headed for home. A napping fin whale was occasionally surfacing which we checked out for a quick bit.

Sleek body of a fin whale

Saturday, July 14, 2018

On both of our trips today we saw minke whales, fin whales and humpback whales. This morning we started whale watching before we even got past the Isles of Shoals. A mellow fin whale was roaming around, followed by a minke whale.

Minke whale inside the Isles of Shoals

Further offshore we saw two more minke whales before the trip ended with two humpback whales. Clamp and Hornbill were busy darting around the area.

Hornbill

Clamp circling at the surface

This afternoon our trip started even closer to home. We were less than a mile outside of the harbor when a minke whale popped up. After a few looks we continued on and ended up coming across two fin whales.

Fin whale with the Isles of Shoals in the background

One of our fin whales is a whale first documented by Blue Ocean Society researchers in 2007; #0718.

Fin whale #0718

We then spent time with Clamp the humpback whale creating a few bubble clouds and even lob-tailing once.

Clamp lob-tailing

Hornbill, on the other hand, was on the move and once we caught up to this whale there were two additional minke whales in the area. Some great looks at the variety of life on both of our trips today in the Gulf of Maine!

Hornbill