Friday, August 20, 2021

Today’s trips couldn’t have been more different from each other.

The morning trip started with grey skies, a big swell from yesterday’s storms, and even a few light sprinkles of rain.  Our first sighting was of a small blue shark. Unfortunately, cloudy days make it more difficult to see into the water, and blue sharks are notoriously skittish, so our viewing opportunity was brief. Further along, our mate Matt spotted a whale behind the boat. We turned around and found the humpback whale named Clamp!  She has been one of our regulars lately, and we were happy to see that she was still in the area.

a bit of marine debris to the right of Clamp

That bit of debris was a Coke bottle! If she had been feeding here, she may 

have accidentally ingested it, causing big problems down the road! Please don't use single-use plastics! 

Clamp

Clamp diving

We watched Clamp for a bit and then got a report of some more whales to our south.  There, we found three humpback whales. Two were traveling together, and the third was close. This group was slowly moving WSW and pretty laid back. Quote, who has been seen occasionally in our area, was hanging just outside the pair, which included Nile and Scylla. Nile had been seen a while back off the mouth of the Merrimack River, and she has been reported to be spending much of her time with Scylla since the start of our season (May/June). Long-term associations of humpbacks are not unheard of but are somewhat rare.

Nile

Quote's cool asymmetrical tail!

A fourth humpback was passing through the area and we ended up catching up to it on our trek home! Chromosome was doing some surface traveling northward!

Chromosome diving

Also on our way home, we had quick glimpses of a minke whale and some harbor porpoises, and then a great look at an ocean sunfish!!

 This afternoon, the rain clouds moved on, and we ventured out on fairly calm seas. We found Clamp once again and stayed with her for a short time before another whale watch boat arrived. We don’t like to have more than one boat on a whale whenever possible, so we decided to continue on to see what else was in the area.

Clamp

Our intern Tiffany spotted a pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins!  This pod was a mellow group of around 50 animals and several calves! Cute! We shut the boat down several times and let the dolphins check us out. Without the noise of the engines, we could truly enjoy the serene moments with these wild animals. Just listening to their breaths made me wish I had a recording of them to listen to during my daily meditations!

As a charter fishing boat approached, they asked if they could show their passengers the dolphins. We said, “of course”, and took the opportunity to go back to look for Clamp again. We found her in the same area, and this time she was feeding! We saw clouds of bubbles at the surface, which she blew to help corral her prey. Cool!  

 

We had a little time left and decided to explore another area that hadn’t been covered in a while.  Recon missions are sometimes successful, and sometimes not so much. This mission was one of the not so much ones. Although we didn’t find any more whales, we enjoyed more time on the water as the sun broke through the clouds and the seas flattened out. We cruised home, passing through the Isles of Shoals for some extra sightseeing! A couple of harbor seals were briefly spotted, and a minke whale was seen in the distance.

 Great day on the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine!

 

August 18, 2021

 August 18, 2021

The whales have been keeping us on our toes lately, moving from areas they had been hanging out for a while to new places and then, just as quickly, returning to their old haunts. Oh, wildlife…

This morning we headed to where we had seen whales for the past three trips. We were surprised to find only one whale in that area. Although we spent 20 minutes with that animal, that would be the only large whale we saw on this trip.   

After searching several other places, we headed for home. And just like that, we came across a pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins! These dolphins were incredible!! Although they would spend a few minutes underwater, they would suddenly appear all around the boat. Several young calves surfaced alongside their mothers, and the pod seemed to be extraordinarily in sync.

The afternoon was quite a bit different. We received a report of a pair of whales in an area we didn’t look at in the morning. On arrival, we found the duo, who seemed to be resting. These animals were very familiar to us as we have been seeing them frequently this season. Humpback whales named Spoon and Chromosome eluded us in the morning but were back in the afternoon. Spoon is well known for resting a lot. And with good reason- she was first seen in 1977 and has had a plethora of calves. As we watched the two just chill at the surface, we were surprised by a sudden tail-breach from Spoon! She suddenly threw her lower body out of the water, creating a big splash! And that was just the beginning! 

She and Chromosome continued to tail-breach, lob-tail, flipper slap, and fully breach multiple times for 20 minutes! 

The raucous attracted another whale watching boat as well as a charter fishing boat. We decided to leave the show as we had excellent viewing opportunities and never want to crowd the whales.   

A little further out, we found another humpback whale named Patches, featured on the cover of our brochure! Patches is a regular to the Jeffreys Ledge area but not seen all that frequently. Great to have him back again!

This trip was the perfect ending for our intern, Natalia. Today was her last day with us as she will be returning to school in California.

 

August 16-17, 2021

Not a bad way to start the week with whales to watch! On Monday morning we saw six humpback whales. Individuals included Pinball, Satula, Sword, Frost, Valley and Jawa.

Pinball

Frost and Sword provided a few highlights as they both tail-breached and lob-tailed multiple times.

Sword

Frost!

Being in the right place at the right time, and most importantly, looking in the right direction, can create some incredible memories. Those moments continued on Monday afternoon's trip. The sightings began a mile from home- an ocean sunfish so soon into the trip!

Ocean sunfish

As we headed offshore, we deviated course when a whale was spotted leaping clear out of the water, a behavior known as breaching. It was humpback whale Spoon, along with Chromosome.

 Safely maneuvering past fishing gear, thankfully

Chromosome and Spoon

Sightings continued with a minke whale, a stealthy fin whale and more humpback whales.

Minke whale

Fin whale

Humpback whales Ravine, Pixar, Owl and Clamp rounded out the trip while surrounded by beautiful ocean conditions.

Whales can certainly put a lot of smiles on peoples faces and we are big fans of smiles. Many thanks to the whales who continue to provide such joy to not only our passengers but even our crew. On both trips on Tuesday we watched six humpback whales. In the morning Frost and Sword surprised us all with some incredible breaching and flipper slapping events.

Frost's antics just before this whale jumped out of the water!

Look at these whales go!

Flippers from two whales!

Not to go unnoticed included Owl, Patches, Pixar and Clamp and even an ocean sunfish sighting.

Ocean sunfish

On Tuesday afternoon, our first sighting brought on its own special moments. Chromosome displayed multiple tail breaches as Quote and Spoon lingered nearby.

Chromosome being active

Owl, Pixar and Patches were also seen while offshore!

Owl mid lob-tail

Owl

August 12-13, 2021

 8/12/2021

We were able to be the heat and humidity by escaping to Jeffery’s Ledge on Thursday. We spotted a minke whale before finding four different humpbacks, including our adoptable whale Pinball! We also saw Jawa, Valley, and Sword.

Humpback whale diving

We returned to the same area in the afternoon and found a total of 11 humpbacks! We came across Pinball again before spending time with about 30 Atlantic white-sided dolphins. We then spotted a whale named Pixar traveling with Tripod. These whales were all very busy below the surface, looking for schools of fish.

Atlantic white-sided dolphins

After leaving these two to feed, we came across a trio of whales: Quote, Chromosome, and Spoon. Spoon and Chromosome have been traveling together for quite some time now, and they must love feeding together! We got a quick peek at another adoptable whale, Owl, before finding another trio! This group consisted of Sword, Valley, and Jawa. The final whale we saw on Thursday was Clamp.

Humpback whale diving

8/13/2021

Cooler air and calm seas greeted us on Friday morning. Before we made it to the ledge, we had several species sighted, including a harbor seal, minke whale, and two pods of harbor porpoise. We stopped to look at an ocean sunfish before coming across our first humpback whale, Clamp. While we were looking at Clamp, Captain Johnathan spotted a blue shark! We were able to get some great looks at this shark before our wake scared it below the surface.

Blue Shark

Pinball was spotted next, and after spending some time with her, we found Owl, napping away! She was still resting when we moved on to our next pair of humpbacks, Spoon and Chromosome. These two were sleeping as well! After leaving these two sleepy whales, we found even more sleepy whales! Valley, Sword, and Jawa were spotted next, and they slowly drifted towards Owl, who was still napping! This is probably the longest nap I’ve ever seen a whale take.

Owl napping

As we turned to leave for home, Owl abruptly woke up from her nap, and aggressively dove below the surface. She surprised us (and the trio of napping whales) by breaching several times! She continued with some lob-tailing and flipper slapping, and we were so sad to have to leave her!

                                        

The calm conditions continued in the afternoon, and we spotted an ocean sunfish shortly after leaving the harbor. This fish was HUGE! It was great to see it so close. We also spotted a minke whale and another sunfish before making it to the ledge.

Ocean sunfish

The first whale we came across was Owl. She was a little more active this time, taking dives and searching for food. Unfortunately, the area was fairly crowded with recreational boats and other whale watches, so we decided to sit still and let the whales come to us. We got a quick look at a whale named Quill before finding Pixar and Tripod, who surprised us with breaches and flipper slapping!

Spoon and Chromosome were still in the area together; best buds! We also spotted Frost traveling with Patches. If anyone has a brochure for Granite State Whale Watch, Patches is the whale on the front!

We got a quick look at a gray seal before finding Pinball again. She surfaced right next to the boat, and we didn’t even know she was near us! What a pleasant surprise, and a great ending to the work week!