September 11 on the Granite State

Well the ocean decided to keep us on our toes today as the wind (and soon thereafter the waves) picked up a bit this morning making for quite the adventure to start the day. This afternoon was quite different however, as the wind shifted direction and the water began to calm down providing quite a different experience in just a few short hours offshore. A quick glimpse of just how quickly Mother Nature can change here in New England. While the wind may have been constantly different today, the whales were fantastic whether we saw them during our morning trip or our afternoon whale watch.

This morning we started whale watching many miles inshore of Jeffreys Ledge as we ended up coming across two different Fin whales. We got some great looks at one of these animals as it was only staying under the water for 5 minutes at a time and not travelling too quickly in any particular direction. With our hardy passengers on board we ventured a bit further offshore this morning and our efforts paid off as we ended up coming into an area where we were seeing multiple whales.

We got a chance to watch multiple Sei whales zig-zagging through the water and even had a highly endangered Right whale on the outskirts of our Sei whales. Multiple individuals of different species, wow! Our Sei whales kept surfacing all around the boat it provided quite the challenge to keep up with all of them. A nice conundrum to have, not knowing where to look to see all of our whales!

This afternoon we were on our way to Jeffreys Ledge when we had a Fin whale surface pretty close to us! To see the second largest animal on earth surface nearby is pretty astonishing, but to have one surface unexpectedly is a surprise in itself as you suddenly see such a massive being emerge from the depths of the ocean with such ease. With a few looks at this whale we were back underway in search of more whale activity.

A few more miles offshore we were pleasantly surprised to see some splashing at the surface. It was a pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins! It's been exactly 3 weeks since our last opportunity of seeing these whales so it was quite the treat. We typically do not see theses whales often since on average Atlantic white-sided dolphins are only sighted 20% of the time we go whale watching in a season. A nice sighting to spend a bit of time with.

As we pressed on further offshore we started to see multiple exhalations from whales in the distance. Turns out we had found quite the gaggle of Fin whales and Sei whales. We were able to get some looks at one of the Fin whales moving through this portion of Jeffreys Ledge as more Fin whales and Sei whales kept surfacing out in the distance in every direction around us!

The dorsal fin of our Fin whale

These whales were constantly changing direction at the surface of the water many times it did not take long to see one of these whales no matter where you happened to be looking around the boat.

Our last whales of the day turned out to be yet other species of whales from those sighted earlier! We ended up spending some time with a Humpback whale that was spending a lot of time on the surface.

The back and dorsal fin of our Humpback whale

This whale was only staying under the water for 1-3 minutes at a time before getting a breath of air and diving back under again and again. While spending time with this whale our passengers were treated to a Right whale out in the distance that cruised past the area. At one point in time we had our Humpback on one side of the boat and such an incredibly rare (and extremely endangered!) Right whale further out on the other side. What a moment.

Thanks to all who joined us today as another successful day to Jeffreys Ledge was full of surprises and excitement of all sorts!


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