August 13 on the Granite State

Today started out a bit unexpectedly as a fog bank rolled into the harbor before even leaving the dock this morning. We had no idea if we were going to be socked in the fog all morning or not and were extremely excited as we headed offshore when the fog lifted. In a matter of minutes we went from less than 100ft of visibility to almost unlimited views in all directions. The notorious New England weather changing at a moments notice!

Our morning trip began with some very nice looks at a Fin whale that was first seen by Blue Ocean Society researchers in 2003. It was Fin whale #0354 still maneuvering through the waters on Jeffreys Ledge. This whale was spending a good portion of time underneath the water (13 minutes the first time it dove and 9 minutes the next) however when this animal resurfaced, it had not moved very far. Since this whale was staying nearby we were able to get some nice looks regardless of the time it was spending further in the depths of the ocean. After our nice looks and another deeper dive for this whale, we decided to go in search of any other activity before we were out of time during this morning's whale watch.

To our extreme excitement we ended up spotting 2 Right whales in the distance before making our way back to Rye Harbor. Yet another sighting of these extremely rare animals! It almost doesn't seem "rare" as this species has decided to spend some time on Jeffreys Ledge recently this season. If at all, we may get a chance to see Right whales in the Fall and so to have them in the area at this point in the season, we are a little bewildered and yet extremely elated! What a moment to witness one of these whales, the rarest of the rare, out in their natural habitat. Incredible to say the least.

This afternoon the beautiful weather continued and we started our trip with a pod of 20-25 Atlantic white-sided dolphins. Since we were still a bit inshore from the Ledge we spent some time with these whales before we were off again in search of other mammals.

With incredible visibility it did not take long before we saw an exhalation from a whale. We had a Fin whale in the area. Turns out we had 3 Fin whales in the area! We first spent time with 2 as they were surfacing at different intervals allowing us to get some nice looks at both of these whales. It did not take long for these whales to merge into the same localized area as we even watched one swim by just beyond the back of the boat!

Dorsal fin of one of our Fin whale

One Fin whale coming to the surface for a breath of air and getting an incredible look at a Fin whales white lower jaw!

The dorsal fin and interesting scars/marks on this Fin whale's back. A sad reminder that our actions in the ocean affect life of all shapes and sizes

The third Fin whale was not too far out in the distance and so we made our way over to this whale for some looks. It was Fin whale #0354 again! A great find and a nice way to end our trip to the Ledge.

Looks as though we are going to have some more nice weather so come and see what might be on the Ledge this weekend. See you soon!


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