Atlantic Queen - Wednesday's Trip

Another beautiful day on the water today, with a nice cool breeze!

Started out with a very active pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins, who were zooming around and did several high leaps.


We then saw an adult fin whale. The strange "pattern" on its gray skin is likely due to skin sloughing - when a whale sheds its skin, revealing new skin. The white line on its back might be the result of a ship strike - e.g., getting hit by the keel of a boat.

We moved on to see a humpback whale, an adult named Lavalier.

Thanks to the great passengers who were on board today - we enjoyed talking with you and thank you for all your support of Blue Ocean Society. Hope to see you again soon!


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July 6- Prince of Whales- Newburyport

What an amazing day! The heat followed us all the way out to the Ledge, where there was not a breath of wind to cool us down. I can't remember a day when it was that warm 20 miles off shore!

Atlantic white sided dolphins were seen early in the trip, thanks to a passing dragger (commercial fishing boat) who radioed us of their location. These dolphins were very active and were enjoying our wake!

Next, a fin whale spouted in the distance. This whale was one we have been tracking since 2007, when we first cataloged it. Notice the very distinctive entanglement scars. It makes me sad to think of all the threats that these whales face in their natural environment, but happy to know that this whale survived an obviously dangerous situation.

Fin whale #0723

We continued on to the Ledge and saw a couple of blows. We had no idea what we were about to encounter. First a humpback fluked. Then a fin whale spouted. Before we knew it, we were surrounded by 4 species of marine mammals plus 4 species of shearwaters, petrels and krill! Life of all sorts was everywhere!! We actually shut down the boat for a good half hour while fin whale were lunge-feeding right off our bow, humpback whales were diving next to us, minke whales were scooting about, and more white sided dolphins were mixing in with all the larger baleen whales. After a while, I stopped trying to point out all the action. Anywhere you looked, you would see something really cool :)

Fin whale # 0813- distinct double nicks

Fin whale lunge-feeding on its side with a greater shearwater taking off

Fin whale surfacing next to the boat

Humpback whales Hornbill (male first seen in 1977) and Pinball (female born in 1989)

As we tried to leave the feeding frenzy, we found three more fin whales (including #0635 and likely #0831), a minke whale, plus the humpback named Cardhu on the outskirts. This was really and truly another fabulous day on the water!

Today, I'm staying on land to catch up on some paperwork, but the Prince of Whales is offshore as I type. Stay tuned for updates later on!

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July 6 on the Atlantic Queen

Great looks at fin whales today; another day that did not disappoint! From these photos, you can see the distinctive lower jaw that is white only on the right side. On the smaller fin whale, you can see the upper AND lower jaws! We had a family on board who was in the pulpit the whole trip! They were the most excited passengers I have ever been whale watching with; thank you for all your enthusiasm! Our UNH docent, Michelle Olson, was showing the plankton she retrieved from our tow today. Thank you all for coming, for the questions, and to our new volunteer, Jon. He actually has been volunteering with us for a long time, participating in beach cleanups. Jon found us our first whale today, and it was only his first whale watch! Come back and see us soon, it's been a great summer so far!
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July 6 on the Granite State

What is there to say other than Jeffreys Ledge is teeming with life! Yet another beautiful day on the water today. Granted it was a bit on the warm side even offshore, but the lack of wind made watching whales quite the sight. All day today we got some incredible looks at many cetaceans as the calm seas allowed us to watch the whales even before they came to the surface for a breath!

Our morning trip was wonderful. Our first looks at whales was a mother and calf Fin whale pair. These two animals were very slow moving and at one point the calf began to nurse! Did you know a Fin whale calf can gain close to 200lbs a day from the very rich milk its mother provides? That is a lot of weight but necessary for the calf as it needs to bulk up its blubber layer so that these animals can survive in the cold waters of the feeding grounds in the spring and summer.

The Fin whale calf breaking the surface of the water for a breath of air next to its mom

Both mother and calf Fin whale going on a deeper dive

Closer to the Ledge we came across more whales. Both Fin whales and Humpback whales. The interesting part was that all our passengers were treated to another behavior. Both species we were watching were resting at the surface, or just below the surface, of the water! Our Fin whale was hovering just below the surface, almost completely stationary, coming up for a breath only when necessary. Our Humpback pair, Cardhu and Pinball, were resting right on the surface of the water keeping their dorsal fins and back above the waterline the whole time they were relaxing their bodies.

Pinball and Cardhu

This behavior from any species really gives our passengers the chance to see just how large these amazing animals are as they maintain themselves in the same spot for sometimes long periods of time.

Our other critters this morning included the Humpback whale Filament and her 2010 calfthat also spent some time nursing from its mother's rich, fatty, milk. And of course we cannot forget about Hornbill, a Humpback whale who has yet again been spotted on the Ledge. Glad this whale is continuing to benefit from the productive upwelling currents providing the basis for massive amounts of food to be eaten.

Our afternoon trip started with a great look at a Fin whale before making our way back to the Ledge. Our course was slightly diverted for a moment when we came across a Basking Shark. This fish was at the surface just about the entire time we spent with it, giving our passengers a chance to look at the 2nd largest shark in the world, on either side of the boat. It was not long before we were back underway and beginning to see spouts from whales in the distance. Little did we know what we were getting ourselves into.

We first stopped on a pair of large Fin whales on the move together. With a short time a the surface and seeing more activity close by we got a look and then....wow! Suddenly we had whales anywhere you looked. And not just one species. We had 3 different types of whales in every direction around the boat! First we had a pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins that were just milling about taking a moment at one point to swim by and around a large Humpback whale before moving on. With such incredible conditions, it was a delight to watch these dolphins swim right around the boat and circle back again staying in the same vicinity as the Humpback! But that wasn't the only thing to be looking at. In the area we had 3 different adult Humpback whales, at least 2 more Fin whales and even a Minke whale that surfaced a few times. Our Humpback whales included Cardhu, Pinball and Hornbill all by themselves, yet all still circling the area. A few times it was even tough to keep your eyes in just one spot. Whales would surface, tails were being seen, and dolphins were jumping out of the water.

To add to the excitement of the whales, the birds were taking full advantage of the productive area as well. We saw hundreds of Wilson's Storm Petrels "dancing" on the water, picking up plankton with their feet as well as lots of Shearwaters circling the area waiting for small schooling fish to be forced upwards to the surface from all the whales below. After getting some looks at our whales we saw even more blows off in the distance and decided to go check them out! A great idea not only to get a chance to see some other whales but to find out just which individuals had come to feast on all the food.

Turns out we found more Humpback whales! The first pair we came across was Leukos and her 2010 calf! While Leukos has been seen by researchers here in the Gulf of Maine already this summer it was great to get a chance to see her with her calf.

Leukos at the surface while her calf rolls on its back exposing its bright white pectoral fin and portion of its tail above the surface of the water

We saw this animal a few times during our 2009 whale watching season, which means the whole time she was on Jeffreys Ledge Leukos was pregnant with her now free swimming calf!

Before long another pair of exhalations were sighted and we were off again! This pair of whales were identified as Grackle and Fracture. These two whales are both adults as Fracture was born in 1990 (20yrs old!) and Grackle was born in 1997(13yrs old!) A few times this pair surfaced simultaneously in front of the boat as we sat with our engines off over a good patch of bait (thanks to our fish-finder on board!) giving us some incredible looks at these large adult whales. Soon it was time to go and head for home, but we weren't done with whales yet! Another Humpback whale surfaced close by as we began heading back to Rye Harbor. With no time to stop, thanks to a few clicks of a camera and the whale going on a deeper dive, we captured it's tail and recently identified this whale as the Humpback whale Lavalier. This whale is actually an animal none of us aboard the Granite State have ever gotten a chance to see in person and are thrilled to have gotten the moment to capture this whale on Jeffreys Ledge! What a great way to end an already wonderful day out on the water.

Great whales, passengers, and an extra thanks to our Blue Ocean Society interns on board today! Michelle, Reagan and Heather were a huge asset during today's trips. Answering questions and collecting lots of data was at times a bit hectic with all the animals we sighted. With these girls literally recording every action of these animals (down to the second!) of all that we were watching today I appreciate all the hard work and focus that was required. Keep up the great work!

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July 5 hot weather and cool whales on the Atlantic Queen

It was very nice on the water today, we left the heat and humidity behind. Our Humpback of the day was Fundy's 2008 calf. This whale made many close approaches, showed us how it filter feeds and even tailed breached for us. The was was perfect until several pleasure boaters arrived, we need to keep a distance from all marine mammals in the United States as they are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act. At one point there were 5 pleasure boats very close to this Humpback. It's very disturbing for me to see this happen, if you have a boat please remember to keep your distance from all whales. A stand by zone is from 300-600 feet from whales where only one vessel is allowed at a time.Keep in touch!Become a Fan on Facebook Follow Us On Twitter

July 5- Prince of Whales- Newburyport

Fin whales, humpback whales, minke whales, white sided dolphins AND basking sharks!
What more could you ask for on the calmest day of the season??


The fin whale above was one of a pair who were pretty sleepy. These whales were moving soooo slowly, we got amazing looks!

Next we found dolphins! Atlantic white sided dolphins have been very plentiful lately, which is great since we only see them on about 20% of our trips!


A basking shark soon popped up, but only briefly before submerging, just out of view:
Then came the humpbacks! Pinball, Cardhu and Fundy's 2008 calf. Check out the barnacles on the tips of Pinball's flukes!

Cardhu's all-black tail!

Fundy's 2008 calf

Awesome day! Join us soon!

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July 4- Prince of Whales- Newburyport

Happy 4th of July!Excellent sightings aboard the Prince of Whales today!

This morning we were greeted by 2 sleepy fin whales, dolphins, 2 humpbacks, and a few more fin whales and lots more dolphins! I must admit that my favorite thing about whale watching is seeing who is in the area each day. Whales move around so much, we never know what to expect out there. One of the sleepy fin whales was #0540- a whale first seen by us in 2005.Fin whale #0540- look at that awesome chevron pattern/marking!

Our first humpback today was seen by the Granite State whale watch boat recently. It is the 2008 calf of Fundy!

Loads of dolphins seemed to inundate the area- every where we looked, we could see splashes from these little whales!

As we kept going, we came across a whale I was sure I knew- and just identified it as #0723- a whale who has significant scarring from an entanglement, but who is now doing very well! Also found a very nice mom/calf pair of fin whales!

Fin whale mom and calf

This friend was found on both trips but still aren't sure who it is:
Another surprise was to see fin whale #0402 near the end of our day! This whale has a marking/scar just ahead of the dorsal fin. We have been watching this whale since 2004!
For me, I am thrilled to see old "friends" returning to the Ledge year after year. It makes me happy to know that in spite of all the threats that these whales face, especially today, that some of our whales are doing very well and are right back where they should be.


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