June 14 Granite State

Today was a day of ups and downs...literally.  The wind decided to surprise us all with a bit more force than anyone was expecting for the day.  Luckily our group of kids were a hardy bunch and soon we were in search of whales.  We had found a whale and unfortunately when we tried to spend some time with the animal it was off.  It was off like a Fin whale on a mission.  This whale was only surfacing a few times, each time moving further and further away.  Did you know that a Fin whale can reach bursts of speeds traveling over 25mph? While this whale wasn't at top speed, it was definitely on the move and so we decided to press on in search of other mammals.  Our luck changed when our friends aboard the Prince of Whales called to report they had a cooperative Fin whale in their area.  Of course "cooperative" can be a very loose term sometimes as just when one starts to recognize a whale's travel patterns and dive times, the whale can easily change its behaviors with a snap and leave us all wondering what happened; a typical response when you are dealing with wild animals!  Luckily this Fin whale was doing a great job spending only ~5-7 minutes under the water at a time and sometimes not even moving great distances at all!  We were in luck.  To make things even more special it was a whale we recognized.  Comet the Fin whale is back!  Comet has been MIA on Jeffreys Ledge for a few years but did make an appearance in 2007 with calf as we quickly learned that year that Comet was indeed a female and caring for her recently born calf! 

Comet and her scars from a previous entanglement.  Thankfully she survived the ordeal as she swim freely today but a sad reminder of what once occurred .  Today these scars help us to positively identify her from other Fin whales and is the basis for how she got the name, "Comet"

The left side of Comet bares no sign as to what she looks like from the other side

Thanks to our school group for maneuvering the ocean with us as a few times it felt a bit more like a roller coaster ride than a boat ride, and to Comet for letting us spend some time with yet another one of our Adopt-A-Whales!

Comet on the move as she surfaces for a breath against the ocean waves

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June 12th, Granite State

It was my first trip back aboard the Granite State for the season and I was very excited to be back.   The sky was grey and it was a bit windy on land, but that did not deter our passengers from coming aboard to join us for yet another adventure.  As we made it further off shore in search of whales, the wind did not let up. It made for a bumpy ride, but the whales did not disappoint.  Our first whales of the day were 2 Fin whales and it wasn't long before we realized how special these two whales were.  One of the Fin whales appeared to be much smaller than the other and we were happy to see that it was a mother and her new baby!  This is the first cow, calf Fin whale pair to be discovered this season and it's always a great sign to see new life on Jeffrey's Ledge.  Our cow, calf pair stayed along the surface for quite awhile and mom never let her baby out of her sight. 

After spending quality tme with this pair, we decided to do a little more exploring while we still had some time to spend off shore. We did not have to travel to far away before finding more whales to spend time with. We found an adult Humpback whale named Halfmoon, an adult male born in 1979! Halfmoon was busy creating lots of bubble clouds, a feeding behavior specific to Humpback whales, where the bubbles help corral food to make it easier for the whales to eat large quantities of food.

Another Humpback whale moved into the area, but we decided to stay with Halfmoon for the rest of our time offshore. We were able to identify this whale by photo-identification and it turned out to be an adult female named Pregunta, born in 1990!

A big thank you to all our hearty passengers on board and to 2 boys who shared their 6th birthday with us.  It was great to have everyone aboard and we hope to see you again soon. 

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June 10 Atlantic Queen

Half Moon and bubble cloud

What a spectacular day on the water!  Great weather, great people, and best of all, great whales!

Half Moon with patch of bait fish (in back left)

We started our trip with a male humpback named Half Moon, who was surrounded by masses of bait fish churning the water surface. I haven't seen bait like that at the surface in a long time!  We think these fish were mackerel and herring - both common prey fish for humpbacks.

Half Moon soon joined one of my favorite whales - a female named Owl!  Owl seemed pretty content to stay close to the surface while Half Moon took deeper dives - perhaps he was the one blowing all the bubble clouds we saw, while she patiently waited for him to round up the fish.  It's hard to say.  But we did get some great looks at them bubble feeding!

Owl, showing the distinctive scar on her back

Owl and Half Moon surfacing at the same time

Watching the fish was almost as fun as watching the whales!

Thanks again to everyone who joined us today, and to Ryan and Seamus from Small Town Pictures, who were shooting footage for an upcoming Blue Ocean Society video!

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June 11 2012 Atlantic Queen

Another Whale of a day!  Lots of bait around and a lot of hungry whales.

All of our whales today were blowing bubble clouds to assist in catching their food for the day.

"Owl" was among the whales we spotted today. She was doing 3 minute dives and came VERY close to the boat today!  She came so close I was able to count the number of barnacles on her dorsal fin!  Quite the sight!
We never know when whales will pop up or decide to come close by. Today was certainly proof of that.  Thank you to The Laconia Middle School for joining us today

Our next trip will be Saturday make your reservation now!
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June 10 Prince of Whales, Newburyport

Awesome day on the ocean! We could not have asked for a better day. Several humpback whales, a couple minkes darting by, and a special appearance by another huge basking shark! Perfect!

We began our trip by seeing some large "explosions" on the horizon- at least 5 miles ahead of us. We were pretty certain that the ocean doesn't just explode on its own and knew that this was the sign of a very active, and large, whale! As we approached, the explosions continued but now we could see specifically what was creating them- Two humpback whales, Clamp and her calf!  For our blog followers, you know that we saw this pair yesterday afternoon and they were sleeping! Today was a very different day. The calf repeatedly jumped out of the water while mother Clamp just hung out. It was a beautiful sight!

A curious and energetic young humpback whale!

As we watched this pair play around, we spotted a large fin nearby. We decided to leave the humpbacks and check it out. What we found was a huge basking shark- second largest species of shark in the world!! At first it was shy but then decided to come over and check us out! This was one big critter!

Basking Shark

Off in the distance were a couple more spouts so we continued on. To my happy surprise was our next whale- one of my favorites- a humpback named Owl! She is also one of our adopt-a-whales and we see her nearly every year! She was distinctive even from a distance due to the large scar on her back (likely caused by a ship strike when she was young). Now, at 26 years old, she is doing better than ever!

Owl's flukes

Owl's large scar

As we watched Owl, we saw another humpback in the area. This was Pregunta, another female humpback!

Pregunta

Sadly, now it was time to go home. We started to go and saw a minke whale scoot by quickly. Also we were passing by several huge patches of bait fish, likely small herring (a humpback's favorite meal).  Just a bit to the south, we saw another spout. Sure it was time to go but curiosity got the better of us and we went to check it out. After some searching, and several low-angled looks at the flukes we finally determined this last humpback whale to be Halfmoon, a 34 year old male! Halfmoon appeared to be feeding as he would race to a patch of fish, dive down, blow a cloud of bubbles around the fish, and then come up in the middle of the bubbles and fish! Must be lunch time!

Halfmoon

Halfmoon feeding in a bubble cloud

Bait fish at the surface!

Another minke whale scooted by and now it was really time for us to go.  Thanks to our wonderful passengers who shared this lovely day with us, and congratulations to Roger for winning our Whale Adoption raffle!


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June 10 on the Granite State

This season continues to be a rotating door as far as sightings go.  With almost every trip we end up seeing a new individual whale that graces us with its presence.  Today we were thrilled to spend some time with Owl the Humpback whale.  Not only is this whale a long time visitor to Jeffreys Ledge, this animal is yet another Adopt-A-Whale!  Owl was most definitely doing some feeding below the ocean's surface as she created a few bubble clouds and even pooped at one point!  Typically when we spot whale poop you quickly catch a glimpse at the leftover remnants of food before a defecation cloud will dissipate in the water.  Based on the color we know Owl has recently been munching on some fish for the color of the defecation is a good indication as to what was recently undigested and passed through the whale's system!  Now you know whales poop too!

Owl with a brown patch (aka. poop!) just at the base of the tail on the ocean surface

We also spent time a few Minke whales, Clamp and her calf, and perhaps the most exciting sighting of the day for our passengers were the 2 Basking sharks we watched feeding.

Clamp with her calf nearby

Once we slowly made our way to the sharks we could see them with their mouths wide open as Basking sharks are filter feeders just like the whales!  A Basking shark will basically swim through the water with an open mouth allowing ocean water to constantly be pushed in to the mouth and out through the gills. 

The front half of a Basking shark with the nose on the left and dorsal fin breaking the surface of the water

Found on the gills are small hooks that end up capturing any plankton that attempts to pass by, whether it be plant plankton or animal plankton, and this is what the second largest shark in the world eats!  Did you know that Basking sharks do not even have teeth in their mouths?  It is sometimes shocking to realize that these large fish eat nothing other than some of the smallest creatures on Earth!

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Atlantic Queen June 9 2012

What a day on the water!  The sun was warm the breeze was light and the sightings were great!  After being in the fog yesterday, today was a welcome change.  Our trip delighted us with Fin whales, Minke whales, a large number of Basking sharks, a single Humpback whale and the high light of my day and the high light of our passengers,  Pinball and her new calf, number 6 for her.

The calf was very playful and curious,rolling over,and giving us close looks,at one point showing us its pectoral flipper
Pinball was doing some feeding today, blowing bubbles below some bait.

The calf will be named in about 2 years.  I was so excited to see Pinball today and of course the new member of her family.

Thank you to all who joined us today, thank you for your donations and support! 






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