June 19-20, 2025

 Holy. Fog. To say that Thursday morning was working against us would be an incredible understatement. As you might have guessed, we spent a vast majority of the morning trip doing an incredible amount of searching in very foggy conditions. As we made our way out towards the ledge, we were able to get a few quick glances at harbor porpoise, a grey seal, and even bluefin tuna as they jumped out of the water, but not exactly what we were looking for. Eventually, we happened upon a large fin, which turned into a basking shark!

Basking shark at surface

We were able to spend close to ten minutes with this shark as it didn't seem terribly bothered by our presence. There was still a job to be done, however, so we continued on in our search for whales. The seemingly endless wall of fog began to show its cracks as we reached noon. Then finally, a small break. Not perfect visibility, but finally we could see more than a mile out ahead of us. A large splash caught our attention out in the distance, hoping it was a whale. Our hopes began to fade as it never returned to the surface, likely another basking shark. We were running extremely short on time and were about to throw in the towel, when something caught my eye right at the edge of the fog, we headed over to investigate and finally found what we had been searching for.

Humpback whale, Grand Manan

Humpback surface feeding

Applause erupted as we got such amazing looks at the humpback whale, Grand Manan, feeding repeatedly near the surface. Every time, blowing bubbles before lunging on its side and raising its flippers above the surface. We spent every last minute we could with this whale before turning for home. Hoping for just a bit more visibility than the morning trip was willing to provide. 

Thursday afternoon began with a sigh of relief as limited visibility was no longer our main concern. Now, we only had ourselves to blame if we fell short of finding a whale. Thankfully that didn't happen, as we made our way offshore, first getting to spend time with Clamp the humpback whale.

Humpback at surface

Our time was well spent with Clamp as she remained very mellow near the surface and actually came close to check us out for just a minute. As we spent time with Clamp, we could see distant splashing at the surface. I had a sneaking suspicion as to who it could be, but could only confirm as we ventured over. 

Humpback flipper and throat grooves

Sure enough, it was Grand Manan from our morning trip, continuing their amazing feeding behavior. Almost every time this whale came up to the surface, coming up with a mouthful of saltwater and fish. Lots of time was spent watching Grand Manan feed, before getting a few last looks at Clamp. 

Humpback diving

High winds and rough seas have forced us off the water all day Friday, but Saturdays forecast is looking much more promising. We're excited to see what the weekend has in store, see you all out there!

June 18, 2025

 We canceled the morning trip due to dense fog and not-so-ideal sea conditions. Luckily, the fog lifted and the seas simmered down for our afternoon departure! 

As we approached Jeffreys Ledge, we spotted a blow not far off our port side. This was a humpback whale named Clamp, who we have seen several times this year already! She was taking short dives and not moving around too much, allowing for us to get some nice views of her. 

As we were about to move on, our intern Haeley saw a blow in the distance! We headed in that direction and saw that it was another humpback whale, but we were never able to get near it, so we have no idea who it might have been. Oh, nature....

We'll be back at it tomorrow! Stay tuned!

June 16-17, 2025

 Monday morning began with a school field trip out towards Jeffreys Ledge! After making our way offshore, first getting to spend time with Clamp the humpback whale, who was very busy feeding each time she came up to the surface, often times filtering out saltwater in between her baleen plates. 

Clamp Diving

Clamp filtering out saltwater

We left Clamp to continue her morning feeding as we saw another whale out in the distance. This turned out to be Pinball the humpback! Pinball has certainly been a regular so far for us this season, so always good to see that she's still spending time in the area. 

Pinball diving

We were beginning to run short on time, so we started to work our way back towards Rye Harbor. Our journey home was cut short as we came across a particularly active humpback whale! This whale, on its side, repeatedly raising and smacking its large flippers against the surface of the ocean.

Humpback whale flipper

Always a fun way to end a whale watch, and definitely a great way for our kids on board to finish their school year! We crossed our fingers that the afternoon would be just as exciting!

Monday afternoon began with us headed back out towards where we had found our success in during the morning whale watch. Much like the morning trip, we started off by spending time with the humpback whale, Clamp. This whale is known for, occasionally, being a little "extra" when she goes down on a deeper dive. It goes a little something like this...

Clamp demonstrating her fancy dive

This interesting form of diving wasn't the only interesting behaviors we saw from Clamp, as at one point, she launched the back half of her body above the surface with a tail breach! After time well spent with Clamp, we continued further along until happening across another friend from our morning trip, Pinball. 

Pinball diving

We stayed for just a few surfacing's as we were running short on time, before ultimately making our way back towards home. 

Tuesday morning began with another field trip! We were making our way back out towards where we had luck finding whales the day before, when one of our interns spotted a blow a little ways behind us. We were initially perplexed as to how we could've passed this whale by, but it quickly became apparent that this whale was being very elusive, only coming up to breathe once every few minutes as it traveled south. We followed this humpback whale for a ways before finally getting to see it go down for a deeper dive.

Humpback whale

Humpback diving

We left this whale to continue on with its day as we pressed further offshore, eventually coming across another humpback whale.

Humpback whale, Sigma, diving

This whale was also being fairly elusive, but was very evidently doing some hunting beneath the surface as we watched it quickly moving to chase down prey. We spent what time we had left watching this whale, before returning back home for our afternoon trip.

Tuesday afternoon began with us actually not having to travel as far offshore as we have been in recent trips. There were a number of whales in the area, most of which were humpback whales. We first briefly spent time with Chromosome and a whale that never raised its tail. I have a sneaking suspicion who it was and am hoping to see more of them in the coming days. While waiting for these whales to resurface, also seeing a fin whale off in the distance!

Chromosome diving

Distant fin whale

Our fin whale sightings are definitely more sparse than they were last year at this time, so always an exciting find for us offshore! We witnessed this fin whale lunge at prey out in the distance, so we moved to investigate. However, we got stopped short by a pair of humpback whales that surfaced nearby, Whirlwind and Grand Manan.

Grand Manan diving

These two humpback whales were only associated with one another for a short time before ultimately splitting off and heading their own ways. As we were following them, they led us to our fifth humpback of the trip, Clamp! We decided to finish off our trip with Clamp as she was doing some feeding near the surface, evident by all of the bubble clouds rising up to the surface not far behind her. A lovely way to wrap up our Tuesday! 

June 14-15, 2025

We got off to a late start on Saturday after having to cancel our morning trip due to unfavorable weather. Conditions nicened up enough for our afternoon trip however, so off we went. Recent trips have been requiring us to travel a loooooong ways from home before we start seeing whales, but that changed pretty quickly as we passed through the Isles of Shoals and wasted no time finding our first whale, Pinball the humpback!

Pinball diving

We hung out with Pinball for a few surfacing's before deciding press on out towards where we had been having luck with whales recently. After making the journey to where we had been originally anticipating our sightings to begin, a few began to show themselves. We were able to spend time with two more humpbacks, Spika and Periscope. 

Humpback whale traveling

Periscope Diving

These whales were definitely doing a lot of traveling, giving us a few sparse looks before we finally had to make our final turn back towards Rye.

Sunday morning began with us making our way back out to Saturday's stomping grounds. The day's forecast called for clouds to loom over us all day, but we were pleasantly surprised that this wasn't the case at all! The sun shining down allowed us to catch looks at the HUNDREDS of Lion's Mane Jellyfish that were floating near the surface as we traveled along. After making our way out to the ledge, we started with the same whale as we did on Saturday afternoon, Pinball! Except this time she was 15 miles away from where we had seen her yesterday. 

Lion's Mane Jellyfish

Humpback whale diving

While watching Pinball, we saw another distant blow that we eventually made our way out towards, which turned out to be a fin whale! Our sightings of these whales has been far less frequent than last June, so a very welcome surprise.

Fin whale diving

 After spending time with the fin whale, we could see two more whales off in the distance, so we moved to investigate. Those distant blows turned out to be more humpback whales. We were able to identify those whales as Dross and Tripod. All of these whales were on the move, so we would have to wait and see if they would make an appearance later in the afternoon.

Saturday afternoon took a while to get started. We spent a good chunk of time making our way out towards where we had luck in the morning, but alas, to no avail. We changed directions and began searching elsewhere, and it didn't take long for us to find a whale once we did. We once again happened upon a familiar fluke...

Pinball diving

Pinball was definitely moving with a purpose this afternoon, and that purpose was feeding! Practically every time she surfaced it was while she was actively feeding or filtering out saltwater from a subsurface lunge. 

Pinball (Vertical)

Pinball (Horizontal)

All good things must come to an end however, and unfortunately for us, we were running out of time. We said our goodbyes to Pinball and made our way back towards home with the wind at our backs and the sun shining bright!

June 12-13, 2025

 Thursday started off with a breeze, but quickly died down as we made our journey out towards Jeffreys Ledge. The whales have definitely been making us work for those sightings as of recent, as we are frequently travelling 20+ miles offshore before we start seeing those distant spouts. By the time we reached the ledge, it was a beautiful, calm summer day offshore. 

Humpback whale, Sedge, diving

Our sightings consisted of two humpback whales, both very familiar friends for us, Sedge and Pinball! Both of these whales started off very close to one another, but began moving in opposite directions. We stuck with Pinball for a while before ultimately trying to do some more searching. We travelled a decent ways before our next sighting, Sedge! Again!!! This whale wasted no time making its way east, so much so that we figured it had to have been a different whale before closer inspection.

Pinball approaching boat

Pinball diving

After saying our final goodbye to Sedge, we did a big circle around the general area, searching for other whales that had been reported nearby, but alas, no success. A heavy haze had been wreaking havoc on our visibility so perhaps they were just barely beyond where our eyes could see. No problem though, we completed our circle by getting some last looks at Pinball, before she came in towards us and provided some amazing views as she went down on a deeper dive. A beautiful send off before turning back towards home!

Friday's trip began with that same long drive offshore, but quickly became worth the wait once we made it to our destination. We were immediately sat in the middle of several humpback whales. All of these whales travelling independently of one another, but still in close proximity. We were first able to spend time with Owl, Yurt, Spika, and one more humpback whose ID is currently pending.  

Humpback whale, Owl, diving

We could see more whales in the distance, so we slowly moved our way over towards them. Closer inspection revealed that it was humpback whales Valley and Bungee travelling in association with one another. We only stayed for a few quick looks before it was time to turn back towards home. We didn't make it very far before...

BREACH

Two of our original humpback whales, Yurt and Spika, both jumped clear out of the water several times! We truly never know what we are going to see offshore. People often ask us what to expect from these animals, and the very unsatisfying (or satisfying) answer we often reveal, is that we just don't know. These two whales breached more in one trip than we had in the entirety of our 2024 season (3 times last year, 6 times in the last day). The interesting behaviors didn't let up there however, as both these whales began flipper slapping repeatedly.

Huge flipper!

We were truly fortunate to be at the right place at the right time. Eventually, these whales resumed more "normal" behaviors, and it was really time for us to head home. We are looking forward to seeing what the weekend brings next!

June 11, 2025

 
Today, Wednesday, we headed back to where we had found whales on Monday's trips. We were happy to find three humpback whales before we got to our waypoint! 

A pair of humpback whales surfaced in the distance. As we slowly approached, one of the two whales came up for a breath. After a few more breaths, the second whale surfaced close to the first! These two had very different dorsal fin shapes- one being very hooked, and the other more square. It wasn't until we saw the underside of their flukes that we knew who these whales were! The hooked dorsal fin belonged to Bungee, while the squared fin belonged to Cupid!! 

While Bungee was down on a dive, Cupid stayed at the surface and swam close to the boat! We shut down our engines as the whale seemed to check us out! It slowly swam under our bow and surfaced on the opposite side! Amazing looks at this large whale, as it was apparently getting amazing looks at us! 

In the distance, we noticed another humpback whale swimming our way. Upon first inspection, this whale looked very different from the first two. This whale was lacking a dorsal fin! Several whales in the region have lost their dorsal fins for various reasons, so we weren't sure who it was until it fluked—Sedge!! We watched Sedge for a bit, but then it was time to head for home. 

What a lovely day on the ocean! 

June 9-10, 2025

We had two trips on Tuesday. In the morning, our school trip was privy to a rare and impressive sight. A breach! Accomplished by a humpback whale named Valley. All whales are capable of breaching, or jumping out of the water, but not observed regularly. What a memory for our group! Sorry, I missed the photo-op of the breach. Along with Valley, we saw humpback whales Quote and Bungee.

Humpback whale diving

During our afternoon trip, we headed back out to Jeffreys Ledge and came across five humpback whales. We started with Fan before finding Pinball. 

Pinball

Both of these whales were moving around in all different directions in the area, but still fun to watch. We then got a chance to check out the same trio we found this morning - Valley, Bungee, and Quote.

Another crew favorite, Valley the humpback whale

Humpback whale tail

The weather is keeping us on land tomorrow, so we'll see what Wednesday has waiting for us.