Fin Whales as Far as We Could See

Wow! There were so many fin whales around today, I lost count. On the Atlantic Queen, I believe we saw at least 16 of them! It is so rare to be surrounded by whales, having blows everywhere we look. At one point, there were about 13 whales all within one miles of eachother. Fin whales are probably my favorite species to watch. Every time I see one I'm amazed at how huge they are, and how graceful.

As we left to head back to Rye, several whales came together. Below is a photo of our friends on the Granite State, surrounded by blows!

Big fins and little fins

The past few days have been packed with cetaceans, big and small. Many finback whales have moved into the area and are sometimes escorted by groups of Atlantic white sided dolphins! Seeing a "tiny" (7-9 feet long) dolphin pop up right next to a huge, 70-foot long finback whale is one of my favorite sights on Jeffreys Ledge.

What a big girl!!

We have been having some nice whale watches lately and it continued through this weekend. We had three female Humpback whales move into Jeffrey's Ledge on Friday. Rapier was feeding on her own, while Filament and Clipper were travelling together. We saw them off and on throughout the weekend and ended Sunday afternoon very unexpectedly. Clipper treated us to a very rare breaching display several times. It was hard to believe that this big female could launch herslef out of the water with such ease. I believe this was helping her with some digestive issues she was having...being downwind of her, the odor was not pleasant! :) We have one more full-time week of whale watching, then we start our fall schedule. Hope to see you in September.

Clipper and friends still on the Ledge

Clipper, Filament, Hornbill and Rapier are still hanging out on Jeffreys Ledge. Yesterday Clipper and Filament, who have been seen together for the past few days now, surprised us by surfacing very close to our bow! These two had been acting pretty lazy, moving slowly and barely lifting their tails, so it was quite a surprise to look behind us and see Clipper clearing the water several times after we had left the area. The splash she made was enormous!

Clipper returns to Jeffreys Ledge

Had a great day today on the Atlantic Queen, with looks at one fin whale and two humpbacks. The fin whale zig-zagged all over the place, similar to how our fin whale behaved yesterday. Then we spent lots of time withe two familiar humpbacks, "Clipper," a 26-year old female and "Filament," a 19-year old female. We've seen both of these whales on Jeffreys before, but not for awhile. It's always nice to see these old friends return!

Clipper looked just enormous! She's a big humpback (humpbacks usually are at least the length of a school bus, anyway!) but seemed really wide. She had her last calf three years ago... perhaps there will be a new little Clipper up here next year?

The weather was just beautiful today. Seas were just choppy enough to make it interesting. Looks like we'll have another great day tomorrow, and with all the whales around, I'm excited to get back out there!

(haven't had a chance to upload pics yet, but they'll be coming soon)

Fabulous Friday - beautiful weather & lots of whales

It appears the humpbacks have returned, at least for now! We spent time with one today (still waiting on confirmation of its ID) that was moving steadily, slowly southeast.

Talking to other boats afterward it appears there were others in the area, too! We also spent time with a fin whale and got great looks at a minke - it's always great to see three different species in one trip!

Weather is looking great for this weekend. Come join us before summer's over!

Blue Shark

It's exactly what it looks like...
I believe this was 0813 who was literally just rocking the boat with waves.


Mom + Calf pair, and Male






I meant to put these pictures up before! With the recent weather and surprising Pilot whale/Fin Whale sitings, I think I can speak for most of the interns when i say that this has really been a great way to end the summer. Thank you so much Blue Ocean for this awesome experience. I hope to do research with you again one day :)