September 16, 2022

The air on Friday was cool and crisp: fall is coming! Our first sighting of the day was a trio of humpback whales: Grommet, Gunslinger, and Decimal. There were other whales in the area as well, and eventually, we found another humpback named Touchdown.

We also spent time with Clamp and Pitcher while another humpback, Satula, was hanging out in the distance. Clamp flicked her tail as she was diving, which had a beautiful waterfall effect.

We tried to look at a couple more whales in the distance, but they were taking longer dives, so we headed back to where we had seen the trio. To our surprise, we found three completely different whales in another trio! These were Jabiru, Shuffleboard, and Partition. This trio was moving slowly and spending a lot of time at the surface. While watching these three, Mogul surfaced behind the boat for a couple of breaths and then left the area.

After spending time with the trio, we headed back to the harbor. We spotted yet another humpback, Ase, on the way. Then there was some splashing ahead of us, which turned out to be a pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins! A perfect end to the trip.

September 14, 2022

The west wind was at our back on our way out, which made for a comfortable ride. When we stopped, however, the boat was side-to the wind and seas now and then, giving all of us onboard the full whale-watching on the ocean experience! Our first stop produced four humpback whales including adoptable whale Satula, as well as Mogul, Sword, and one we have still yet to identify.

Continuing, we found another productive area including five humpback whales (Spoon, Jabiru, Pinball (also adoptable), Clamp, and Fan! Spoon and Jabiru decided to uncharacteristically approach the boat! How fun!

A sleepy grey seal hung out nearby, and then a pod of about 50 Atlantic white-sided dolphins came charging through the area!

September 10-11, 2022

With trips now on our fall schedule each day out on the water is that much more special. On Saturday, the ocean treated us to plenty of marine life to look at. We saw 10 humpback whales, five blue sharks, three minke whales and an ocean sunfish.

Humpback whale diving

Blue shark

Ocean sunfish

Each trip is always unique but when there is almost no wind to speak of, each subtle disturbance triggers our eyes and we are ready to react. Identified humpback whales included Shuffleboard, A-plus, Jabiru, Spoon, Chromosome, Clamp and Owl and her 2022 calf. A beautiful backdrop of an ocean to enjoy so much wildlife.

 

The calm winds continued on Sunday as we were surrounded by glass-like conditions at the surface. Sightings of blue sharks occurred as we made our way offshore along with an ocean sunfish.

Ocean sunfish

We ended up seeing seven humpback whales - including a group of five! Known whales included Gunslinger, Pitcher, Spoon, Ase, A-plus, Shuffleboard and Jabiru.

How many whales can you spot in this image?

We passed by a minke whale and wrapped up the great sightings with a pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins. So much life in our small part of the Gulf of Maine!

Atlantic white-sided dolphins (above and below)

September 9, 2022

We had not been on the water since Sunday due to high winds and rain, and we were relieved to get out on Friday. Our first sighting of the trip was a little Atlantic puffin. This bird kept dipping below the water, but we were able to get some quick peeks. We eventually found ourselves surrounded by humpback whales. The first whale to pop up was a male named Mogul. Shortly after we spotted Mogul, a much smaller whale appeared. We were sure this was a calf, but where was the mother? Eventually, Owl showed up! She must have been busy looking for fish while her calf was at the surface (calves can’t hold their breath as long as adults). We also had Clamp and Grommet show up. Clamp and Mogul even came close to the boat, along with Owl’s calf. We were also surprised by the arrival of a large pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins! These toothed whales didn’t seem to interact with the whales too much and eventually left the area. We stayed with these five whales for a bit, just staying in the same spot and watching them do their thing.

Clamp

Atlantic white-sided dolphins

Tubercles on the nose of a humpback

Owl's calf!

Eventually, we decided to leave this group and came across a pair of humpbacks. We spotted a flipper slapping the surface of the water before arriving. These two whales were Ase and Jabiru, and Jabiru kept flipper slapping after we arrived. After leaving this pair, we found another humpback: Pinball! She gave our passengers some wonderful close looks before we headed back to the harbor. 

Jabiru's flipper

Diving humpback

Just outside the harbor, we spotted an ocean sunfish! Once we got closer, we realized this animal had its eye closed! Ocean sunfish don’t have eyelids, but they can retract their eye, and the skin covers it up! Weird! This was a good way to wrap up our trip.

Ocean sunfish

September 2-4, 2022

Friday, September 2

The water was glass calm on Friday. We first came across a pair of humpback whales. Shortly after, a small pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins cruised past. We stayed with the pair of humpbacks, who turned out to be Pinball and Highlighter. Pinball was down on Stellwagen Bank just a week ago. She sure does get around! Another humpback whale named Dross was also spotted in the distance.

We then spotted a cute little harbor seal pup. This animal was curious about the boat and looked right at us as we rotated around so everyone could get a good look. What a friendly little seal! We then had a single humpback surface a little closer to us, who turned out to be Satula! Clamp also surfaced after Satula dove. The whales were popping up all around us! We left this area to see what else was out there.

        

We passed a minke whale before ultimately finding another pair of humpback whales: Spoon and Chromosome. These two spent a lot of time together last year, so it was great to see them reunited! Spoon even gave us some flipper slaps between naps!

 

Saturday, September 3

Saturday morning started with a small group of harbor porpoises and a minke whale. Our first large whale of the day was a female humpback named Dross. After spending some time with her, we found Pinball, another female humpback. She came close to the boat at one point, much to the delight of our passengers. 

Next, we found a pair of humpbacks. One whale we recognized as Ase, who we have seen a few times over the past week. The other whale was not identified until we were back on land, and it turned out to be Stump, a new whale for us this season! After leaving these two, we came across Satula, who stayed near us for a few dives.  We came across a pair of sleeping whales before it was time to head home. Both whales only showed a little of their flukes, but this was enough to identify them as A-Plus and Shuffleboard. 

The wind picked up quite a bit in the afternoon; thanks to our brave passengers for toughing it out! Our first sighting of the trip was a humpback whale named Crisp. Jabiru was also in the area, and we were able to watch this female humpback for one dive. We then spotted a small pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins. This pod was moving fast and didn’t seem interested in the boat, so we moved on. We found a pair of whales next, who turned out to be Nile and her calf! The pair surprised us with a few tail breaches. 

We then came across a pair of humpbacks: Ase and an unknown whale. While we were watching these two, we spotted some splashing in the distance and decided to investigate. There were two pairs being very active: flipper slapping, lobtailing and tail breaching. One pair was Spoon and Chromosome, and the other pair was Shuffleboard and A-Plus. The trip finally wrapped up with a quick appearance from a harbor seal. 

Sunday, September 4

Sunday morning really felt like fall. It may have been warm and humid on shore, but it was cool and crisp on the water. We saw two harbor seals and a minke whale before finding our first large whale: a fin whale! We saw another exhalation close to us, and it turned out to be a male humpback whale named Nike. After spending some time with Nike, we found Spoon and Yurt. We also had two additional humpbacks in the distance: Clamp and Ase. At one point Clamp separated from Ase and gave us some wonderful closeups as she circled our boat.

After leaving this area, we found Pinball and Satula, who we have seen a lot of this season. Satula was only briefly in the distance, but passengers were able to get some great views of Pinball. We spotted some splashing in the distance, which turned out to be two more humpbacks: Chromosome and Shuffleboard. There were breaching and flipper slapping. A perfect end to this trip!

In the afternoon, we found a total of six humpback whales. They were moving in and out of the area and changing groups as well. First, we had Spoon and Yurt, who were later joined by Clamp. We then spent some time with Jabiru and A-Plus. We turned around to check out some more humpbacks in a different area, and came across Spoon, Yurt, and Clamp, who were now joined by Ase. 

The rain will keep us tied to the dock until Wednesday, when our fall schedule officially starts. What a wonderful holiday weekend!