July 11 Prince of Whales

The wind was certainly not in our favor today. We ventured offshore and found a huge fin whale fairly close to shore. This whale was very well-behaved for us, doing shallow, short dives and surfacing frequently.

Fin whale #9904, a female

This fin whale was identified as #9904, a female first seen in 1999 and has had 2 calves that we know about (in 2005 and 2008)!

As we pressed on closer to Jeffreys Ledge, we saw a couple of spouts in the distance. A humpback whale named Hornbill soon appeared. Hornbill was first seen as a large whale (not a calf) in 1977 making him one of the elder-statesmen of the Gulf of Maine population.

Hornbill's flukes

On our return trip, we found not one but 2 minke whales inshore! We could tell the difference between the two based on their unique fins. These minke whales were feeding and we could see the light green flashes of their bellies as they maneuvered underwater trying to catch some lunch.

Thanks to all of our passengers today!

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July 11 Granite State

Our morning trip started off with a great look at one of the three Minke whales we encountered during our travels to and from Jeffreys Ledge this morning. This particular animal appeared to be quite relaxed as it wasn't constantly moving in different directions and coming up to breath every so often just off our port side.

Minke whale

With such nice looks, our passengers were ready for more activity as we all continued to scan the horizon as we continued further offshore.

Our next sighting was causing quite the ruckus at the surface of the water. We had come upon a pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins. There were approximately 30 of these whales intensely circling the area most likely doing a bit of active feeding. These social creatures will take turns corralling their food items, whether it be small schooling fish or even squid, before each animal takes turns darting through the ball of food catching one item at a time. Even though we were unable to see the food from our vantage point on the boat, they were probably not too far under the water, as many birds were taking advantage of the frenzy. Great, Sooty, a couple of Manx Shearwaters, as well as Terns and Seagulls, were all sitting on the water or flying overhead attempting to capture a bit of food for themselves.

Shearwaters looking for food as a dolphin's dorsal fin can be seen in the background

It never gets old when we get the chance to watch a multitude of marine life feed in the same area. The whole scene was a bit chaotic to look at as birds were zooming in and out landing and taking off again, while the whales were changing every which direction, going after the food of choice. Chaotic and yet almost orchestrated all at the same time as the dolphins and birds maneuvered the area with ease and cohesiveness. Quite the sight.

Atlantic white-sided dolphins with birds all around!

Our last stop was with a pair of Humpback whales, Sabot and her calf, still on Jeffery Ledge. We were even treated to a look at the underside of the calf's tail (something often times not seen from a calf as it is a learned behavior and just like humans, needs a bit of practice to master a new skill).

Sabot above and Sabot's calf's tail below

This afternoon created its own excitement as we had a bit more wind to deal with than expected. Though just about everyone got drenched at some point throughout the travels, we were able to get some great looks at the whales we came upon. Many thanks to our friends on the Atlantic Queen who also shared in our "wet" travels we both got a chance to check out multiple species. We got a few glimpses of a Fin whale that was on the move and captured a few moments of the time this whale spent at the surface.

One of the Fin whales we spotted this afternoon. Note the close up photo of this whale's dorsal fin with a few "striped" scars on the front edge of its fin.

We then continued on and came into an area where there were a few more animals scattered about. We saw 2 other Fin whales break the surface as well as 3 Humpback whales in the area.

We again were lucky enough to spend some time with Sabot and her calf.Sabot going on a deeper dive

Our passengers on board also got a chance to see the calf raise its tail above the surface of the water with quite the effort. I wonder if this animal used a bit of all the wave action on the surface of the water to time out its dive and get a little extra "push" as this animal did a really nice high fluking dive for everyone. Just trying to be like mom.

Sabot's calf going on a deeper dive

Just before turning for home we saw another blow close by and realized it was another Humpback whale. Turns out it was another adult female whale: Nile is still around. Even though this whale didn't show a great majority of its tail as it went on a deeper dive a quick look at her dorsal fin, and the portion of the tail we did see, was enough to know Nile was coming into the area.

The different shapes of our Humpback whales dorsal fins. Above: Nile and Below: Sabot

Thanks to everyone who joined us today as we had yet another adventurous day!

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Atlantic Queen July 11

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Today was an interesting day on the water. We encountered wind and white caps, which make finding whales much more difficult. We were very lucky to come across a nursery pod of about 20 Atlantic White Sided Dolphin's. My intern Amy and I spent the day on the fly bridge hoping we could find blows with the wind working against us. It eventually paid of as we were getting just as wet as our passengers were. We had a single fin whale, not really too interested in us, unfortunately. Then in the distance a big splash, guess who? Sabot's 2011 calf, this calf is a complete BLAST to spend time with, we also had a couple other humpbacks cruising through the area. Our efforts paid off! Thank you to all our passengers today, you did a great job out there! Congratulations to Eva who won our raffle today... A "stripes" adoption, who represent our Atlantic White Sided Dolphins!

July 10 Prince of Whales

OK, so we didn't have a humpback calf breaching like the Atlantic Queen did, but we did contribute to our fin whale research catalog of sightings! Today we got a good look at fin whale #0345 (I know, that's not a very good name) and can now add an updated chevron photo as well as a new dorsal fin photo. This whale has some new markings on its right side just ahead of its fin. #0345 has a sporadic sighting history (2003, 2008 and 2010) so I was happy to see it back here again, and psyched to get some good photos.

Fin whale #0345

A second fin whale was in the area but we decided to leave and seek out a humpback whale that was sighted by a passing fishing boat on our way home. We never found the humpback but did see a minke whale!

Today's trip was quite the contrast to yesterday's but that is typically the case in whale watching! Every day is different and the whales move around a lot!

Thanks for sticking it out with us today and we hope you try your luck again in the future.

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Atlantic Queen July 10

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It was all about Sabot's calf today! This calf is so fun to be around, yesterday it breached 3 times but today it decided to bump it up a notch and breached 29 times!

July 9 Prince of Whales

Busy day today!
We started with Satula, an adult male humpback whale. Satula lost his dorsal fin years ago but is doing well.

Satula

A bit further offshore we could see a young whale breaching in the distance but 2 other whale watch boats were already in that area (plus 2 private boats) so we decided to give those whales some space and we ventured on to an amazing whale feeding expedition just a few miles away.

We found our humpback friend, Nile in the area:

Soon Nile was circling our boat and at one point came up behind us as our engines were shut down and dove right under the boat! She is a big whale!!

Nile diving at our stern

Before we knew it, the krill and herring were bubbling at the surface and then Nile came crashing through the water with her mouth wide open, feeding on the buffet!

Nile, feeding on fish and krill

Also in the area was Scylla, another female:

And my all-time favorite humpback whale Spoon!!! Spoon was feeding near Nile during our last few looks before we had to return to port.

Scylla and Spoon

Also in the area were a minke and fin whale!

The disturbing part of today's trip was the amount of fishing gear near the feeding whales. 2/3 of all humpback whales in the Gulf of Maine have scars from entanglements in gear, and we just saw an entangled whale on July 7. Rope is not a whale's friend. Our associates on the Atlantic Queen spotted a recently entangled and injured fin whale today. These events are all too frequent and we need to come up with a solution.

Spoon, first seen in 1977, breathing near fishing gear.

Thanks to all of our supporters today, including Devon who adopted a whale today!! And congratulations to the Gomez family for winning our raffle prize of a Flask adoption package!! Thanks for all of your support as we continue to learn more about these amazing animals and learn more about the best ways to protect them!


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July 8 Prince of Whales

Today we ventured out to where we had reports of many feeding fin whales were just the night before. We love our fishing friends who give us reports of whales in areas we don't normally go to. Our search proved productive as soon we found an area with 3 huge fin whales and a couple of minkes!

To make this day even better, the first whales we saw were in a pair, and were both whales that I know VERY well!!! Ladder (fin whale #9641) and the currently unnamed fin whale #9618!! Both of these whales are male and were first sighted by Blue Ocean Society researchers on Jeffreys Ledge in 1996. Ladder was first documented in 1981 (30 years ago!!!), while #9618 was first seen in 1984. However, we still don't know how old these whales are since they were adults back in the '80's when first seen.

Ladder is one of my most-favorite fin whales. I have seen him every year (except one) since I started whale watching 17 years ago!

Check out his really cool chevron markings below!

Ladder's chevron pattern

Ladder- named for the ladder-like scar (caused by a boat propeller) on his back

Ladder is also well known for his affinity for hanging out with other fin whales even though most fin whales are usually solitary. The majority of the time we see him, he is with another fin whale or at least in the same area of other whales.

Today he was with #9618, who is seen frequently but not annually. This pair of whales was feeding and surfacing very closely to our boat, and even circled out boat once!! Amazing looks at the second-largest animal on the planet!

Fin whale #9618's chevron pattern

9618's distinctive dorsal fin!

Not far away we found a third fin whale. This one has yet to be identified and may possibly be a new whale to our catalog!
Also in this same area was a minke whale- a "small" baleen whale at 20-30 feet in length!

Minke whale

We searched for more whales but only came up with 2 very elusive minke whales on the southern part of the Ledge. Overall it was a beautiful day with some very lovely whales!!

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