July 24-25, 2025

 Thursday morning greeted us with a decent amount of swell and chop at the surface, but we gave it our all to head offshore and find some whales! We were able to do just that as we started our trip off with two single fin whales. While getting looks at one, we had a completely different pair of fin whales surface off of our port side.

Fin whale diving

These fin whales began traveling in an unfavorable direction, so we pressed a bit further offshore to get looks at a distant whale we had been seeing. Once we slowed the boat down again, it turns out there where two humpback whales spending time in close proximity to one another, Pinball and Satula! We were able to sit almost idle (if the wind and waves would have permitted that) while watching these whales, as they spent their time circling around the area. 

Pinball diving

Before it was time to head for home, we saw another whale out in the distance, so we moved in that direction to see who it was. Once we got closer, we noticed a few small fins breaking the surface, before a trio of humpback whales slowly rose up to the surface on our starboard side. All at once, we were joined by three humpbacks and a small group of Atlantic white-sided dolphins!

White-sided dolphins

Trio of humpbacks

The humpback whales eventually revealed themselves to be Spoon, Chromosome, and Tripod. We were able to get really excellent looks at these sleepy whales as they rested near the surface, before ultimately turning for home. 

With the swell increasing in addition to the wind, that meant no afternoon whale watch for us on Thursday.

Friday morning we were surprised to see that the offshore conditions were actually quite a bit nicer than we were anticipating, so this made our searching much easier as we eventually came across a pair of whales who were keeping a pretty low profile near the surface. These whales turned out to be one of the mom/calf fin whale pairs that we have been lucky enough to see several times this season.

Fin whale mom/calf at surface

Both of these whales were resting at the surface and occasionally actively nursing as we watched the calf switch which side of its mom it was surfacing next to. We never want to disturb these animals, only enjoy their presence, so we moved on pretty quickly from this pair to do some more exploring. Eventually, we came across a pair of humpbacks, Tripod and Chromosome. These whales were quite a bit more awake than the last as they were actively feeding near the surface.

Pair of humpbacks diving

After continuing along, we were able to spend time with another humpback, Clamp, before moving into an area that was boasting a lot of life near the surface. As we sat still watching, we were surrounded by 3 minke whales, one fin whale, and a distant humpback.

Minke whale diving

We began to slowly make our way out towards the humpback whale, before getting closer to see that it was Pinball. We were able to shut our engines off and wait, as this whale surfaced near our boat several times before we had to make our way back in towards home.

Friday afternoon began with the sea conditions improving more so than they already had, and an initial sighting of a fin whale to start off our trip.

Fin whale diving

This whale was doing a LOT of traveling, so we decided to press on. Eventually, we came across another fin whale, who also had travel on its mind, so we got quick looks before moving along. More searching lead us to an area containing several different humpback whales.

Humpback whale diving

In total, we spent time with three single humpbacks, Pinball, Ravine, and Satula, before coming across a pair on our travels home, Chromosome and Tripod. 

Ravine diving

On our travels in, we were also able to get a few quick glimpses at two different minke whales. Definitely a lot of life spending time near the surface recently, we are excited to see what the weekend has in store!

July 23, 2025

 This morning, we began by seeing two of my favorite humpback whales, Spoon and Valley.

Humpback diving

A few harbor porpoises were nearby, as were some distant fin whales. Then we found a pair of fin whales- it was a mother with her calf! This particular calf has been very curious of boats and today was no different. The youngster came up right along side us, surprising everyone that this was the “calf”! It’s a pretty big baby whale!

Fin whale calf

A minke whale and a pair of harbor seals were also in the area. We also found a couple more humpback whales including Satula, one of our favorites!

Satula diving

A pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins galavanted around us for a bit, and then two more fin whales were seen before we headed home.

Fin whale

 

This afternoon, we saw Satula again!

Another fin whale showed up- this is an individual we have seen multiple times this summer!

A pair of humpback whales were snoozing at the surface, and really didn’t care at all that we were watching them sleep.

Sleepy humpbacks

And then another mother/calf pair of fin whales!! This pair was different from the one we had on the morning trip.

Fin whale mom

Such a lovely day on the ocean!

July 21-22, 2025

The past few days have given us plenty to look at. On Monday morning, we watched four humpback whales, six fin whales, and a pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins. Our humpback whales were scattered around, with a brief pairing of Pinball and Spoon. We haven't seen Pinball since mid-June. What a welcome surprise to see this whale back in our area, if only for a moment!

Humpback whale

Welcome back Pinball!

We also spent time with Clamp and Satula. While watching our fin whales, they were cruising through the water. 

Humpback whale

Fin whale

The most impressive part was seeing two separate fin whale pairs (including a mother-calf pair) merge together with a pod of approximately 15 Atlantic white-sided dolphins! 

Fin whales on the move

Atlantic white-sided dolphins

On Monday afternoon, we were once again watching dolphins associated with a baleen whale. This time, a pod of approximately 25 dolphins was associated with a humpback whale moving through the area. 

Humpback whale

Dolphin

Further offshore, we saw four more humpback whales, three of which were associated with each other briefly. 

Humpback whale

We are working on some of our humpback whales' IDs, but Spoon and Valley were among them.

Pair of humpback whales

Fun sightings continued on Tuesday. On our morning trip, we spent time with two fin whales and two humpback whales. 

This fin whale is on a mission!

Fin whale

Humpback whale

We have not yet matched our humpback whales, but they differ from the other two we had on Monday's trips! We also watched a basking shark swimming along, before giving us a quick tail flick and disappearing into the ocean depths. 

Basking shark - the light-colored areas are healed scars

On Tuesday afternoon, we started the trip with an ocean sunfish. 

Ocean sunfish with a chunk of it's fin missing

We then found one of the same humpback whales we saw during our morning trip, before coming across humpback whales Satula and Clamp.

Diving humpback whales (above and below)

Clamp and Satula worked in the same general area, but only crossed paths once when they came together in the same bubble cloud. We were then privy to witness Satula flipper slapping numerous times. What a sight and sound!

Satula 

Satula mid-flipper slap

Before heading for home, we watched a pair of fin whales on the move. Beautiful.

Fin whales diving

July 19-20, 2025

On Saturday morning, there was a variety of marine life for us to check out. We spotted an ocean sunfish, three humpback whales (Satula, Spoon, and Valley), a fin whale, and a pod of three Atlantic white-sided dolphins. 

Ocean sunfish

Humpback whale diving

With calm seas surrounding us, it was pristine conditions for watching wildlife!

Fin whale in calm seas

Pair of humpback whales

On Saturday afternoon, we spent time with humpback whales Satula and Valley. 

Satula

We were also privy to a fin whale mother-calf pair. This pair is different than the other mother-calf pair we have seen recently. What a cool find! 

Fin whale mother

Fin whale calf

We also watched another fin whale and a few people even saw the minke whale that briefly surfaced nearby.

Fin whale

The wind and waves were waiting for us offshore on Sunday, as we only had a morning trip. We spent the trip watching humpback whales, Spoon and Valley. 

Spoon at the surface (above and below)

Spoon was busy moving through the water and Valley even created a few bubble clouds.

Valley diving

July 17-18, 2025

 In keeping with our 2025 July Tradition, Thursday morning's whale watch began with us blanketed in fog as we made our way out towards Jeffrey's Ledge. Our visibility kept increasing ever so slightly as we travelled along, but not so much that it would make our search any easier. As we were going, one of our interns on the upper deck spotted a blow from a whale back behind us (phew!), so we made our way back around to investigate. This whale revealed itself to be Clamp the humpback whale.

Humpback whale

Clamp spent almost all of our time with her travelling near the surface, only occasionally going down on a deeper dive. Eventually, the visibility cleared up just enough for us to press on and search for any other whales in the area. Our efforts resulted in us happening across another humpback whale, Satula. This whale was doing a great job of moving back and forth between different schools of fish as we rotated ourselves around to get looks at this whale.

Humpback whale diving

Our time was running short, so we started our way back in towards Rye, but along the way, stopping for quick looks at a third humpback whale. As of now, I have yet to identify this whale. It has, very evidently, had a rough go of it out here, seen through the entanglement scars from fishing gear on its tailstock and trailing edge of its fluke.

Juvenile humpback

Entanglement in fishing gear is a huge problem for almost all of the large whales we encounter out along the Jeffreys Ledge region. This whale is currently free of fishing gear, but will unfortunately bear the scars left behind. 

The good news for Thursday afternoons whale watch was that we were fog free for the duration of the trip! The bad news is that the trip only lasted all of two hours. Conditions offshore were deteriorating fast, but it almost seemed as though we could go the length of it, until we actually made it out to Jeffreys Ledge. For the safety of our passengers and crew, we made the decision to turn back early, but not before some quick looks at a few humpback whales nearby.

Humpback whale flipper

There were at least four whales in the general area. Three of which were most definitely humpbacks. These whales consisted of Sedge, swimming around on his own, and Valley + Spoon, who were swimming side by side.

Valley diving

After getting our quick looks, we started our journey back towards home. Even though we saw whales, that trip was most definitely not aligned with our minimum expectations for one of our trips, so white tickets to come back anytime over the next year were distributed to our brave passengers. We hope to see you all soon (hopefully on a nicer day)!

Friday morning gave us a much needed break from the fog we have been experiencing seemingly non-stop, but our reprieve came in the form of high winds from the west, so we took our time making our way offshore, giving the wind some time to ease up as it was forecasted to do. We took a stroll through the Isles of Shoals, getting the chance to see quite a few grey seals, before we continued offshore. It really didn't take long before our first whale sightings, which came in the form of a distant humpback whale, which upon further inspection, turned out to be Satula!

Humpback whale diving

As we travelled along with Satula, we could see two more distant blows. So after spending a bit more time with him, we decided to press out further to investigate. These whales turned out to be a pair of humpbacks, Spoon and Valley. Both of the whales in this pair spent a lot of time resting near the surface, really not making any forward progress at all. They did eventually wake themselves up and dive down into the depths of the ocean, which we used as our opportunity to continue along and do some more exploring. After a short while, we had a minke whale surface close by off of our starboard side, so we slowed up to see if we could get some looks at it. As we were waiting, this whale sneakily swapped sides and gave our passengers on the port side a really excellent look at this whale right alongside the boat (so so sorry for the framing of this photo, I was caught quite off guard)

Minke whale next to boat

As this whale travelled alongside us, we got really excellent looks at the entire length of this whale, but also being able to see a very distinguishing feature of minke whales, the minke mittens (small white patches on either flipper)! After this very exciting surfacing, our minke resumed much more typical minke whale behaviors and became elusive again, but always a super special treat when these whales decide to come in closer to the boat.

Fin whale diving

We continued until we encountered our final sighting of the trip, a fin whale. By this point we could start to tell that the surface conditions were beginning to calm down, so we were excited to see what the afternoon would bring!

Friday afternoon greeted us with much calmer surface conditions than the morning trip. We began our trip by heading out in the general direction where we had found luck with whales in the morning. Once offshore, our first sighting came in the form of Clamp the humpback whale. Clamp was evidently feeding beneath the surface, noted through the bubble clouds she was producing, rising up towards the surface. 

Clamp diving

Eventually, we continued on our way. Captain Jonathan saw a distant blow from a whale, so we began travelling in its direction. Seven minutes passed before we saw it again, and it seemingly wasn't any closer than the first time we spotted it. This eventually made sense as once we were able to get looks, this whale revealed itself to be a fin whale.

Fin whale diving

Fin whales are some of our fastest swimmers out here, but thankfully, this whale decided to slow down and we were able to get some excellent looks. Nearby, another whale watching boat was finishing up their trip with a humpback whale, so once they started for home, we slowly approached to do the same. This humpback, Satula, spent much of his time feeding just underneath or at the surface, and even came in for a few close passes as we shut our engines off, watching and listening quietly to him as he passed by. 

Humpback diving

After a good amount of time, it was time to say goodbye. As we made our turn for home, I spotted some distant splashing, so we made our way in that direction. This splashing actually turned out to be bluefin tuna, very consistently breaking the surface with birds overhead. These fish tend to be very elusive in their surfacings, but we were able to spend a short bit of time watching them as they fed on a nearby shoal of herring near the surface. We then continued along, but were briefly stopped by Clamp once again, before finally making our way back towards Rye.