July 23-24, 2022

With the cranked-up heat this weekend, heading offshore provided a much-enjoyed reprieve to be surrounded by the cooler ocean. Saturday, we spent time with four whales on each of our trips. However, the individuals were different each time! In the morning, we checked out fin whale #0520, humpback whale Dross, a pair of fin whales (including #0331), and even an ocean sunfish.

Sleek fin whale

Pair of fin whales!

Ocean sunfish

In addition, a small pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins was moving through the area, lackluster of us attempting to watch them.

On our afternoon trip, after a brief sighting of an ocean sunfish, we came across three humpback whales - Quote, her calf, and Dyad. A fin whale even moved into the area before wrapping up the day.

Quote and calf

Diving humpback whales

Sunday started with an ocean sunfish in route to Jeffreys Ledge. Further offshore, we stopped to check out a large fin whale. This whale has been sighted a few times this season. So cool to know it is still around!

Ocean sunfish

Fin whale

We then spent time with Mogul, the humpback whale, and a quick look at another humpback whale Quill.

Humpback whale

Sunday afternoon, the wind kicked up and we certainly cooled down as we headed back out. The ocean was lumpy (and a little wet!), but the whales seemed to be unphased. Five humpback whales were seen including Quote and her 2022 calf, Mogul, Tripod and Valley.

Quote's calf got a little wiggly, breaching a few times, flipper slapping and playing with seaweed.

Calf's flipper and a great shearwater

Can you see the seaweed on top of this whale's head?

July 21-22, 2022

July 21, 2022

We were greeted by a hazy horizon on Thursday morning, but it was still much-needed relief from the hot, humid weather inshore. We were able to spend time with a total of three humpback whales: Diablo, Pinball, and Clamp.  These whales gave us some great looks between dives.

 

On our way back to Rye Harbor, we were surprised by some splashing in the distance. It turned out to be a breaching minke whale! This was a younger whale, possibly only a few years old. Our passengers were treated to over 50 breaches, which even continued as we left the area. 

Severe storms kept us tied to the dock in the afternoon, but what a wonderful morning trip!

July 22, 2022

This morning we started to head to the area where we had whales yesterday but got sidetracked by some blows before we got there! Three humpback whales were in the area, including one single and one pair! The single whale has yet to be identified even though we got a nice look at its flukes. Maybe it's a new visitor!!

The pair of humpback whales was a mother and calf! The calf followed mom around and even dove in perfect synchrony with her!

A large fin whale showed up, amazing us all with its size and grace.

Our trip home was glassy calm and our captain spotted a pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins! Perfect conditions for viewing these little, toothed whales above and below the surface!

The extreme heat continued Friday afternoon, and our passengers were relieved to get out on the water. We first came across a pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins. There were about 50 individuals in this group, including a few calves! 

When we arrived on Jeffreys Ledge, there were several humpback whales in the area, along with many boats. We first came across Clamp, and even spotted Dross in the distance going on a dive. A harbor seal popped up quickly also. We wanted to give these whales a little more room with all the boats around, so we headed to a more open area and found Valley and Tripod traveling together. These two whales exhibited a behavior known as logging; they were taking quick naps at the surface between dives. When whales rest, they look like logs floating at the surface.

After leaving Valley and Tripod, we found a whale named Quill. This male humpback gave passengers some beautiful last looks before we headed home. On our way back, we got quick looks at a blue shark and a small group of harbor porpoises. A great start to the weekend!

July 20, 2022

This morning, we found a humpback whale, Satula, on our way out to the Ledge. Surprisingly, he was about 26 miles from his last known sighting just a few days ago! This guy really gets around!

We continued on and got some looks at a couple of ocean sunfish, an ever-increasingly popular fish in our area.

 

Our intern, Jill, spotted a blow nearby, which turned out to be a huge fin whale! Over the years, we’ve been seeing fewer fin whales than in years past, so our recent influx in sightings has been welcomed and exciting!

 

We passed by a few minke whales and harbor porpoises on our way home before preparing for our afternoon trip.

The southerly wind picked up, bringing a much-appreciated cool breeze across our decks. We headed to a different location from our morning trip and found a pair of humpbacks. What was even more exciting was to see that this was a mother and calf pair! We watched these two for a bit before moving on to find more whales.

 

Another humpback whale was soon found. This one was by itself and quickly identified as Pinball!  At one point, she swam toward our boat and circled around us before diving!

 

A fourth humpback was in the area, surrounded by some tuna-fishing boats. Although this whale wasn’t always lifting its flukes to show us who it was, we could figure this out based on its dorsal fin and small scars.  Diablo has recently been known to dive without fluking, and our intern Ana quickly pointed that out!

 

As we watched Diablo, a large grey seal was circling the area, too!

July 18-19, 2022

We got our morning trip in on Monday before the increased wind and rain were scheduled to move into the area. Instead, we got to travel through varying levels of fog as we made our way to Jeffreys Ledge. Once on the ledge, we slowly scoured the area, first getting eyes on a minke whale, then a fin whale!

Fin whale

Visibility continued to improve for more searching capacity, and we even spent time with two humpback whales - Clamp and Dyad.

Diving humpback whale

Humpback whale

The trip wrapped up with a grey seal. A fun variety, and wonderful looks, at the marine life we spent time with!

Grey seal

The ocean was moving and grooving on Tuesday. The swell was coming from one direction and the wind from another. This equals a very confused ocean, and made for extra "excitement" on the water. Not surprisingly, the extra movement of the waves does not deter the whales. In the morning, the first whales we watched were a mother-calf fin whale pair! We don't often come across mother-calf fin whales, such a find so early in the day! We then checked out humpback whales Clamp, Diablo, and Pinball.

Fin whale pair!

Humpback whale

On our transit back to Rye Harbor, Blue Ocean Society's interns spotted Atlantic white-sided dolphins. Awesome spotting Kayla!

Atlantic white-sided dolphins

Tuesday afternoon was full of its own surprises. We started with a fin whale, first identified by Blue Ocean researchers in 2000!

Fin whale #0021

Then we maneuvered ourselves into an area where five humpback whales were darting around. The birds were soaring from above while the whales were changing directions constantly. Individuals included Diablo, Pinball, Dyad, Tripod, and Clamp.

A small pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins even scooted through the area.

Dolphin!

As if that wasn't enough, Captain Jonathan got eyes on a blue shark on our trip back to the mainland and maneuvered the boat for some fun looks before the shark slipped under the surface.

Blue shark's dorsal fin

July 16-17, 2022

Saturday morning we were first treated with looks at a fin whale - one of the second largest whales on earth! Always impressive to come across.

We then spent time with humpback whales Clamp, Diablo, and Dyad.

The same humpback whales were around in the afternoon, in addition to a handful of pleasure boats. Between the whales and the small vessels, we had to slowly maneuver (for the whale's safety sake!) and got some great looks.

On Sunday, we ventured back offshore to where the whales were on Saturday. Whales can, and do, move so looking for them in recent locations is always a good place to start. We ended up spending time with five humpback whales. Clamp, Dyad, Diablo, Tripod and Valley were darting all around, filtering and creating bubble clouds along the way. Even a grey seal was trying to take advantage of the plentiful food.

Grey seal

In the afternoon, as we headed towards Jeffreys Ledge, we found a small pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins.

What a special treat! The humpback whales were also still around to round out another successful day.