What a Weekend

Whether we had the same animals or different individuals over the course our of weekend we aboard the Granite State watched whales of all kinds exhibiting all sorts of behaviors on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Our trips from the morning to the afternoon on all the days were so unique and different it was great to spend some quality time on Jeffreys Ledge with so many great passengers.

Some of the highlights from the weekend include a great look at a Blue Shark who got all of our camp kids quite excited and interested as it was being very mellow at the surface Friday morning. Newton, a Humpback whale, returned to Jeffreys after a two year haitus(as one of our naturalist's Beth mentioned in her blog). We also had Fin whales coming up to the surface upside down(!), Atlantic white-sided dolphins, and bubble feeding, tail breaches, flipper slapping, and all out full body breaches by some of our Humpback whales over the course of these past three days.

We came across Clipper and her calf again this weekend except this time these two Humpback whales had an escort moving with them. Clipper, in the photograph below, can been seen exhaling at the surface in the background while Clipper's calf has it's pectoral fin (or flipper) above the surface and proceeded to slap it on the water over and over again. Finally, Skua is in the foreground and became associated with this mother/calf pair.

Newton seen here below is so named due to the black vertical marking on the left fluke. The large black area in the center and extending outwards towards the points of the tail resemble a tree with Sir Isaac Newton sitting under the apple tree about to discover gravity!

More open mouth feeding this weekend and great looks at the baleen of a Humpback whale as it slowly begins to filter all the water out of it's mouth. One of about 50 Atlantic white-sided dolphins spotted during one of our whale watches this weekend!

We found Clipper and her calf a second time this weekend (woohoo!) The calf was pretty active the entire time we were in the area. Here are a couple photos of the calf tail breaching. This animal also leapt right into the air one time, however, I was a bit unlucky since I was searching the horizon for other animals on apparently the wrong side of the boat when the calf shot straight out of the water on the other side of the boat. One of the many reasons why it never gets old going out watching whales. At any given moment you have absolutely no idea what a whale might do. So incredible!

Simultaneous open mouths by two adult Humpback whales. A perfect 10 in synchronization!

It was great chatting with so many passengers this weekend. Hope to see you again on another trip!

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New Arrivals and Old Friends

The last couple of days aboard the Granite State have been quite nice. I would like to highlight a few moments from Friday afternoon (8/7) and this morning (8/9). There was really no wind on Friday afternoon when we left the dock and it was a warm one. We ended up seeing a total of 9 Fin whales, 6 Humpbacks, and 2 Minke whales. I’m still working on trying to ID the Fin whales, but the Humpback sightings were surprising to us. None of the Humpbacks that we saw in the afternoon were ones that were seen during the morning and we had a couple of surprise visitors. Our highlight of the afternoon was finding a trio of Humpback whales feeding on herring along the surface. All 3 whales would surface together with their mouths wide open and then roll over to help push food to their stomachs. Quote, an adult female, was one of them and we were happy to have her back in the area. Then, to our surprise, the other whales with Quote, were Trowel and Newton!! Trowel and Newton haven’t been seen on the Ledge this year until that afternoon and Newton is one Captain Pete’s favorite whales. Here are a couple of favorite photos from Friday afternoon.

We had a nice crowd aboard the Granite State this morning and headed out to Jeffrey’s Ledge wondering who we would find. We saw a total of 6 Humpbacks, 5 Minke’s, 18 Fin whales, and 50 or more dolphins! Highlights for me were watching our first pair on Fin whales and finishing our trip with dolphins. As our first pair of Fin whales were lunge feeding along the surface, one of them would completely roll over after feeding and then circle in the opposite direction to corral food. One would roll to the right and the other to the left. It was a unique sight and they repeated this behavior for about a half hour. In the photos below, the first Fin whale’s head is above the surface and the second whale is upside down.

We saw several different Fin whales throughout the trip that treated us to some nice close encounters. We ended our morning with lots of dolphins, a rare find this season. It was the perfect way to end our trip before heading back to Rye. I want to thank all our passengers who joined us. There really is nothing better than watching wild animals in their natural habitat.



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Saturday on the Prince of Whales- Newburyport

What a day! I'm not even sure where to start! I guess I should start with the morning trip.

This morning we left Newburyport and headed to where we found tons of fin whales and shearwaters yesterday afternoon. Before we got to where we thought we were going, we found lots of blows from lots of fin whales- at least 13 fin whales were all around, near and far! We moved into a group of 5 of them! Amazing! Fin whales are usually solitary so to find 5 of them together was great! A "picket fence" is what we call lots of fin whales together since their blows resemble the stakes of a white picket fence! Below are two of the whales we saw this morning!

From the fin whales we continued on to a report of more whales a bit of a ways away. Once we finally got there we found several humpback whales in the area and focused our limited time on Skua- the humpback whale pictured below:
Skua, the humpback was bubble feeding- blowing bubbles and coming up with its mouth open, catching the fish!
Skua was also flicking its tail side to side near the surface, and then would, um, relieve itself, leaving a big brown cloud of digested fish behind!

For the afternoon trip, we weren't really sure where to go, since our morning fin and humpback whales were spread pretty far apart. But we chose to go in search of our morning fin whales as the concentration of them was pretty remarkable, and my parents were on the boat so I knew it would be a great afternoon (they always have fantastic trips). As we approached the area we were at in the morning, we found a trio of fin whales which were moving at a pretty good clip. We got a few looks and then continued on to find a humpback named Mudskipper. Muddy is a very nice whale who rarely lifts its tail but we know it by just looking at the rounded dorsal fin. Muddskipper was feeding, blowing bubble clouds similar to what Skua was doing in the morning.

We left Muddy to explore more areas of Jeffreys Ledge. Soon we spotted a blow in the distance. As we approached, we saw that this whale was another humpback with a distinctive floppy dorsal fin. Trident!

Trident has always been a personal favorite of mine. She is a 27-year-old whale who has had at least 8 calves that we know about. Though we don't see her every year, when we do see her, she is always a nice, cooperative, mellow whale.

Trident's fluke

Soon, Trident started to tail lob- slapping her tail on the surface. This happened 19 times according to our fabulous intern Emily's data!

Trident was also flipper slapping- the technical term for when a whale slaps its flipper on the water :)But then, holy moly! We had no idea what we were about to witness...Trident breached close to the boat. Not once, not twice, but 43 times!!! Really! In all my 15 years of watching whales, I've never seen a whale breach that much. And she was still breaching when we had to leave!






As far as whale behaviors go, this is the one that everyone wants to see, and one that National Geographic depicts as the common behavior for this species. But in all honesty, we rarely see whales breach. As I said today, we may see it here and there, but usually a whale jumps when everyone is looking in the opposite direction, or when they are miles away and we just see the giant splash. To have Trident breach over and over was truly remarkable, and something that I am still in awe of, and still smiling about :)

I'd also like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that whale watching is not about quantity- how many whales you saw in one trip. But instead, whale watching is about the quality of the trip- how much time you are able to spend with a whale to really see how whales behave in the wild. Sometimes they are sleeping, or just breathing and diving. Other times they are extremely active. I'm sure that after Trident's display, everyone forgot about Mudskipper and the fin whales we started with, but again, honestly, those sightings are typical looks at whale life. Whales breathe, swim, dive and feed. And every now and then we get really lucky and are treated to the more dramatic life of whales. When we do encounter these amazing sights, even after years of being on the water day after day, I am still in awe at the beauty, power and mystery of whales.

I also want to thank our afternoon passengers. You folks were one of the best crews we have had in a while! As the captain said at the end of the trip, your interest, enthusiasm and involvement were above and beyond our usual crowd. Even before we saw Trident jumping over and over, our deckhands were commenting on how great you were!

A side story- a couple told me today on our way back to the dock that this was their first whale watch, and that they don't need to go ever again because this trip was the best there is! As this was a fantastic trip, and you may never see a whale breach 43 times in a row ever again, you will certainly have other experiences- different of course- that will give you glimpses into the lives of these great whales. So again, please tell your friends and family about today's trip and encourage them to visit the whales soon. This has been a remarkable season so far and each day gets better and better!

In summary, another common question we get asked is "When is the best time to see whales?" My answer: "When my parents are on board!"

Thanks go out to Trident who made this day phenomenal!




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Friday on the Prince of Whales

What an unexpected day! As we typically tell people, every trip is different. That was certainly the case today! We began our adventure with a few looks at some stray humpback and finback whales. Tigris surfaced and we got some great looks at him (above). We kept moving and found Trident into the west. As we looked through the binoculars, we saw a few more blows so we headed that way.

A few blows turned into several, and tons, literally, of birds! We began this second half of our trip by watching the humpback, Clipper, and her calf. Clipper was feeding, blowing bubble clouds and coming up in the middle of the bubbles, while her calf was gallivanting around the periphery.Clipper and calf

Clipper charging up through a bubble cloud

Then, the calf was playful and started flipper slapping while Clipper was feeding!

As we looked to the west, thinking about going home, we saw several more blows. We made our way up into that area and found an absolutely ridiculous amount of birds (yes, that is my professional opinion!) and several finback whales in the midst of the birds! The shearwaters (greater and sooty shearwaters) and common terns were making quite the ruckus! I've never seen birds this dense and numerous in all of my 15 years of whale watching! Obviously the fish were good! At times, we could barely see the whales through the screen of birds!

Can you see the finbacks- the 2nd largest animal on the planet???

Then, to our great surprise, 2 finbacks surfaced right next to the boat- one was on its side and we could see half of its tail above the surface as it rolled!

And check out this profile shot- see that white lower jaw?? Its only white on the right side. The left side is black!


Yes the fin whales were oblivious to our presence. The were just happy to be eating! We got some amazing looks like the one below!

What an awesome afternoon! Words really can't describe the amount of bird life and finback activty in the area! This was truely a once in a lifetime opportunity!

Thanks to all of the visitors from all over the world who made today a special day!

And I'd like to send a special thanks to our fabulous intern Kirstin, who is finishing up her intenship with us to return to school at Florida State University. Good luck Kirstin!




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Thursday on the Prince of Whales

Another lovely day on Jeffreys Ledge. The marine life was outstanding today with 3 species of whales and tons of birds of all kinds! We even saw a couple schools of bluefin tuna fish chasing smaller fish up to the surface! Fjord, the finback, (above) showed up on our afternoon trip briefly. The morning trip had fin whales all around! Check out the gorgeous chevron pattern on this whale:

And the spout of this one as the fin whale was making its own bow wake in front of it:

This afternoon, we also were lucky to witness some bubble feeding by Sword and Tornado. They were surfacing a few times with their mouths wide open, with the shearwaters attempting to swoop in for a few lone fish!

Sword and Tornado, with a shearwater in the background.

Sword

We saw another one of our friends, Flask, on both the morning and afternoon trips! Thanks to Jean for adopting him!

Flask with a sooty shearwater

Trident's long flipper and corner of her tail

As we were heading for home, we passed by Trident, who was flipper slapping and tail lobbing for a bit. A few years ago, Trident was entangled in gill net gear and was unable to use her flippers as they were pinned to her sides! Perhaps now she just wanted to show them off! She was certainly trying to communicate something. As she was slapping, we saw another whale breach way off in the distance! One can only speculate the conversations that take place under the water's surface!

As we tried to head for home again, we were side tracked by one last sighting...We ended our day with a new visitor to Jeffreys Ledge- Clipper, with her new calf!! Clipper is an old favorite, so to see her with another calf was such a treat! The calf was playful and surprised us a couple of times by coming up next to the boat! Seeing this lively fellow reminded me of the last time we saw Clipper- last summer when she was breaching while pregnant!

Clipper's "clipped" dorsal fin

Clipper and her calf going down for a dive

Thanks again to all of our supportive passengers!


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Sunshine and Whales

What a perfect day to be out on the ocean today. No humidity, bright sunny skies, and calm sea breezes was a great foundation to a day on Jeffrey's Ledge. Not only was the weather cooperating but so were the whales.

This morning our passengers and an excited group of kids from Exeter Parks and Recreation watched some activity of all sorts. A few Fin whales in the area provided an excellent chance to see these graceful animals cruising through the water so effortlessly even though they are the 2nd largest animal in the world. A couple of them were circling the area, surfacing often, so everyone all around the boat could get a chance to see the white lower jaw and distinct chevron patterns of our Fin whales. It was nice to identify one of these whales as 0354, a Fin whale who has made an appearance a few times so far this season.

Another highlight from the morning trip was seeing a Humpback whale, Trident, actively corralling food. It is fun to stare at a bubble cloud knowing the animal, in theory, should be surfacing right through the middle or nearby the large cloud at any moment. Plus it is a great marker for all our passengers to have a definite spot in the large ocean to focus on and get some incredible looks at these whales doing what they do. To our surprise we also found the Humpback Flask back in the area circling around as well.

For our passengers and crew alike perhaps one of the coolest things we saw today was a particular feeding frenzy from multiple species. We came into an area that had a handful of birds including Greater Shearwaters, Sooty Shearwaters, Seagulls, and Wilson's Storm Petrels going after a definite school of herring. Not only were there birds but there were at least 5 Bluefin Tuna attacking the same school of fish! These bait fish were getting pushed up to the surface in an attempt to avoid the Tuna from below and then getting attacked from the shearwaters from above. Needless to say there wasn't much hope for these fish. The tuna were charging through the water, the birds were diving left and right, the fish were swimming in all directions, it was pure chaos and thrilling to sit by and watch! Perhaps the biggest surprise for all of us was as we were all witnessing this incredible display of nature a Minke surfaced right in the middle of the activity. Surprise! Nothing like animals of all sizes engaging in such a display. Absolutely incredible!

Our afternoon trip was just as exciting. We found some of the same animals still in the area including a few Fin whales, a Minke whales and a very exciting surprise for all of our passengers and crew. Turns out we came across a Humpback whale, Clipper, a female who was last seen by our Blue Ocean Society affiliates last year. The big surprise though was that she had a calf with her!!! Not only were we thrilled to learn this whale is healthy and back on Jeffrey's but she has made it through another pregnancy with another calf.

Clipper was taking pretty short dive intervals and the calf was spending a lot of time at the surface charging around, rolling side to side, and circling in all directions. We even got a great look as this calf got a bit curious about the boat and decided to swim down the entire length of the starboard side of the boat just underneath the surface of the water. Even as a calf these whales are quite massive and it was great to see the calf's entire body just under the water while Clipper surfaced right next to us keeping an eye on her offspring.

Today was a great adventure, as all whale watches tend to be, and look forward to what is in store for us this weekend.

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