July 23 on the Granite State

The whales have been keeping us busy this season. Whether it has been having to search long and hard to find them, or travel great distances to get to them, the whales are definitely keeping us on our toes. Today, although a great day, was another day of searching and travelling.


This morning our whale watch took us to areas of Jeffreys Ledge where we had whales the day before. It did not take long realize whatever had been in the area had left. No sign of whale activity, or for that matter bird or large fish activity (all good signs of productive regions of the Ledge!) in places we had seen whales only a day earlier! We pressed on to other areas of the Ledge and during our travels came across 3 different pods of Atlantic white-sided dolphins! In total we ended up seeing at least 75 of these whales and got some really great looks as a few of these pods spent some time cruising around the boat.


We did come across another whale before running out of time this morning. It was a Fin whale! This animal, while on the move, was not surfacing all that often. Thanks to nature and the captain's watchful eye we followed the travel pattern of this whale based on the "footprints" that continued to rise to the surface. A whale's footprint is really just the water being displaced by the whale's tail. As the animal pumps its tail up and down in the water, propelling itself forward, the water that gets "pushed" aside from that giant tail gets pushed upwards, creating a very calm smooth patch, once at the surface of the ocean. That calm patch gave us the ability to follow our whale, as a trail of footprints continued to appear on the water, as this whale was swimming through the ocean. This natural occurrence allowed us to stay alongside this massive creature without actually seeing it in the water! What an amazing, and impressive ability. Knowing there is a 60+ton animal very close by, far enough under the water to not be able to see it, but still having the ability to maneuver the boat in a safe direction as these footprints rise to the surface and stick with this animal is incredible. Because of these very convenient calm patches we were able to get some fantastic looks when our whale did finally decide to come up for a breath of air!

Our afternoon started a little drizzly but our passengers toughed out a little rain and we pressed on offshore. We spent a lot of time travelling through the open ocean and yet we were seeing no signs of whale activity on the horizon. Our travels brought us to an area that, while far from Rye Harbor, turned out to be well worth the trip. We ended up getting looks at 5 different Humpback whales. 3 of these animals were moving around together, one being a whale named Kickstart, whom we have seen over the last few whale watching trips. The surprise of the afternoon came when one of the animals in this group jumped clear out of the water. A whale had just breached!!! This animal only preformed this behavior once and as quickly as it had happened, it ended.

It is not uncommon for any whale, if it ever breaches at all(!), to do this behavior once before going back to "normal" breathing and diving patterns. For those lucky enough to be looking in the right place at the right time, it was incredible. If you missed it, to still see such a huge amount of water splashing in all directions as a whale lands back into the water, is just as impressive! While not caught on camera, it was a sight and memory I hope you remember for all who got the opportunity to witness such a rare occurrence.


We also spent some time with another Humpback whale that was circling the area this afternoon. This whale has been identified as Plateau. This animal was coming to the surface often and raising its tail when going on a deeper dive giving everyone, whether out in the elements or inside the cabin, a chance to see this whale.

We did have another exciting sight while spending time in the area. We saw a Basking shark surface not too far from our Humpback whale and decided to spend a few minutes checking out this fish nearby. This shark was staying at the surface or just under the water, enough for us to keep track of it, to get some good looks at this shark.

The dorsal fin of our Basking Shark

These sharks are plankton-eaters, so even though they are one of the largest sharks in the world, they actually eat some of the smallest food sources in the world! We were right next to this particular shark when....uh oh....it suddenly turned 90-degrees and was heading straight towards the boat! The fact that the boat wasn't moving in the first place during this particular time with this shark, we realized it wasn't going to take long for this shark to realize we were only feet away! As quickly as this shark had turned in towards us, it suddenly apparently came to terms that we were still next to it. Oops! The shark veered again, but only after it thrashed it's tail, to get another sharp turn, before a brush from the shark with the hull of our boat was made! Our passengers actually got a bit wet from our shark's quick motion of it's tail! About the closest encounter you can get with the 2nd largest shark in the world! The shark continued on its way and we were able to ease our way back to Plateau for a few more looks before it was time to head back to the Harbor.

Thanks to all for helping us search the horizon and watch some incredible behaviors and marine activity today!



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