July 12 Granite State

Alas I was not on board for our morning whale watch but was informed that it was a very nice morning out on Jeffreys Ledge.  The first stop on whales was once again our mother/calf pair of Humpback whales, Pinball and calf, still spending time on Jeffreys Ledge.  It is amazing to think with all the 33,000 square miles of feeding grounds in the Gulf of Maine, Pinball and her calf are still moseying around Jeffreys Ledge.  Only those creatures know why they go where they go, and for how long they stay, but it is always enjoyable to continue to see these mammals utilizing our small corner of their enormous habitat.  This pair was being quite mellow as Pinball didn't even appear to diving further down into the water column.  Both whales were just moseying around on the surface not quite napping but not quite moving a whole lot either.  Regardless, it was nice to spend time with this pair. 

Turns out the Humpbacks weren't the only pair around the area.  Of the three Fin whales spotted this morning two of them were swimming alongside each other, but this time the pair wasn't a mother and her calf.  It was two adult Fin whales.  Ladder(!) a whale more than 31 years old was swimming with Prong, a whale first sighted on Jeffreys Ledge in 2000.  To watch one large Fin whale nearby is impressive but to throw into the mix a second of the second largest creatures in the world is an experience.

This afternoon the wind was clearly not the 5-10 knots that had been forecasted for the day (as anyone on board could attest to) as the waves and wind churned up the ocean.  The wind had finally found its way back to the area as we have been getting spoiled with such flat seas recently.  But the wind did not deter the whales.  And for that matter, it did not deter our passengers as little did we know what was in store for us.  News of Pinball and her calf was updated to the boats this afternoon since in just a few hours this pair was being seen in a different location than where they had been spotted just this morning.  Soon we ventured towards the area.  Even as we started to get close you could see the splashing in the distance.  One of the whales was being quite active.  The behaviors continued as Katie our intern with the Blue Ocean Society on board recorded 31 different breaches for the short period of time we spent watching this pair.  It was the calf that decided to launch just about every part of its body above the ocean world: tail, head, and its full body out for all to see. 

Pinball's calf's lower jaw and visible pleats (lines/ridges running lengthwise down this whale)

Pinball's calf from tip to tail

The aftermath of what the ocean looks like when a whale returns to the water after being airborne

While the calf is close, it was still plenty far enough away from the Starfish, as lots of folks got to experience such incredible behaviors

White flippers and all above the water

It was an exciting experience as many times these aerial activities can cease just a soon as they begin.  For whatever the reason the calf had no problem continuing with these antics for a few different whale watching boats around the area to witness.

Pinball's calf opened its mouth during this head breach showcasing its baleen plates (hanging from the upper jaw) to multiple boats

 

More leaps out of the water

It was a very special and unexpected way for our afternoon to progress.  With still more time to explore we left these two whales to continue with their day as we ventured further offshore.  Before heading home we got the chance to see another Humpback whale, doing some travelling, but got a few nice looks as this animal surfaced nearby.  It was Sedge the Humpback whale!

Sedge's dorsal fin

Sedge

What a nice way to end our trip having the opportunity to watch this adult whale.  Perhaps we will see it again soon as we anticipate the unexpectedness of marine life on Jeffreys Ledge tomorrow!

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July 12 Prince of Whales

Breezy day on the water but the wind blew out all of the haze. We spotted our first whale at least 4 miles in front of us and without using binoculars! The visibility was amazing! And to my happy surprise, our first whale was one of my favorites- Satula, the humpback whale! This was the first time he had been seen on Jeffreys Ledge this season by a whale watching boats (he had been photographed not too long ago by a tuna boat well offshore).

I've been watching Satula for about 16 years. I knew him back when he had a dorsal fin! We aren't sure what happened to his fin but it has been gone for about 10 years, and now he just has a dent where his fin used to be. This male humpback was first seen in 1988 as an adult so we don't know how old he is, but he does seem to like Jefreys Ledge! When we first saw his flukes, I did a little happy dance (apologies for any of you who might have witnessed that...). It is always refreshing to know that an old friend has survived the threats the ocean can bring for yet another year.

Satula

Satula

In the distance we spotted more blows! We left Satula and soon found Sedge, another male humpback whale also first seen in 1988! And surprisingly coincidental, Sedge also has injured dorsal fin! Bizarre!  Although Sedge's fin is still there, it does have a deep cut in the back of it.

Sedge

Sedge

Close by, we did spot a third humpback whale, and also a fin whale that we didn't have time to check out. Beautiful day on the ocean and thanks to our awesome passengers for joining us!

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Atlantic Queen July 12

More humpbacks again today and lots of breaching!  Thius is the first time this summer I have seen this behavior.

Pinball's calf

Pinball's calf was very busy today,breaching, tail breaching, and taking a couple of cat naps.  Pinball was busy below searching for food and keeping in close contact with her rambunctious calf.

Pinball

We also had a breach from Ebony a female first seen in 1980/1981.

Ebony

Breaching is not something you see all the time on a whale watch but today was just one of those days!  Thank you to all who joined us, you had great questions and we appreciate all of your support.









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July 11 on the Granite State

This has been an incredible stretch of weather and it seem to be continuing, at least for now!  The whales have continued to be around Jeffreys Ledge but when you are talking of an area encompassing 33 miles long and anywhere from 5-11 miles wide, that is a lot of potential places a whale can move to with just a handful of rapid tail flicks.  While we once again got the chance to spend time with a few familiar whales today, these animals are most definitely not remaining in a particular area for long. 

Our morning trip began with a scattering of Minke whales on our way out towards the Ledge. 

You know it is going to be a good day when we spot whales (a Minke whale!) as we pass by the Isles of Shoals 6 miles offshore

We altered course after a bit once we heard from the charter fishing boats that whales had been spotted.  Thanks to our friends who keep an extra eye out on the water for mammals even though they are in search of fish we made our way over to a pair of Humpback whales.  It was Pinball and her calf.  The calf was a bit "wiggly" as we got the opportunity to watch the calf roll on its side and back a few times!  Even a flipper from a calf is impressive to see!

Pinball's calf on its side showcasing its bright white flipper

Half of the unique black and white pigmentation pattern on Pinball's calf's tail

Just before leaving the pair we noticed the calf had surfaced close to some fishing gear in the water.  This commerical gear marked a line running all the way to the bottom of the ocean (195ft of line running the length of the water column) to a net going after ground fish such as cod, pollock, and haddock.  Every moment of every day these whales are constantly dealing with human related activities out in the open ocean.  Fishing gear and boats are the only "predators" these mammals face.  Many of the whale species we see today have remnants of interactions with us humans.  Scars from entanglements in gear and interactions with boat (propeller and keel scars) are very much present on so many whales.  Luckily many have survived such the ordeal but not all whales are so lucky and end up perishing because of such interactions.  We all held our breath as Pinball's calf was moving toward the line.  A few breaths later and the calf went on a deeper dive raising its tail (a good steep dive for a calf) but our fear was far from over. 

The calf's tail with a some fishing gear, called a high flyer, just beyond

I know my heart skipped a beat, as I am pretty sure many others on board also sat in panic, as all eyes were on the gear.  Even after the whale was gone from the surface as it swims under the water any amount of line can get snagged on a whale's flippers, tail, or around the body if a whale starts to roll as it realizes it is in close contact with an unknown object.  The mini-heart attack occurred when we all saw the buoy and marker start to slip under the water.  As quickly as the gear began to go under (but what seemed to be a much longer period of time!) the gear popped back up to the surface.  Panic turned into a huge sigh of relief as we were so fixated on the gear making sure it was really staying put while we saw both Mom and calf surface a few minutes later out in the distance!  Whether it had been the calf who had made contact with the gear, or Pinball further under the water, we do not know but we were beyond happy to see both of them out in the distance freely swimming with no additional surprises trailing behind them.

Pinball and her calf

Once we knew both animals were a-okay and our pounding hearts returned to normal beats we continued on our way.  Soon we were seeing more spouts.  We first got a quick look at Halfmoon before heading off to investigate the other blows. 

Hello once again Halfmoon

It took a bit of time as we all waited for the whale that we had seen to resurface.  Finally we found the spout.  But it wasn't just one, or two, or three, for that matter.  Suddenly 4 Fin whales were at the surface!  But that wasn't it either.  A pod of 20 Atlantic white-sided dolphins were accompanying the movements of our Fin whales. 

Atlantic white-sided dolphins

We spent time moving with the dolphins which seemingly were staying with the group of Fin whales as every now and then we would have these massive whale surfaces right with our dolphin group! 

The tiny dorsal fins from our dolphins (left) while one Fin whale barely breaks the surface for a breath of air (right)

After snapping lots of pictures we realized there weren't 4 Fin whales in this group, there were at least SIX!!!!  While all six were never on the surface together at any give point in time, it seemed as though as we followed the dolphins, all six were surfacing at different intervals.  We can only imagine what the whales were doing underneath the surface but thanks to their unique dorsal fin shapes we were able to account for so many different Fin whales in the group of associated mammals!  Below are just a few of the uniquely shaped dorsal fins and bodies from some of our Fin whales.

Our afternoon trip continued with beautiful sea conditions as we first started with a Humpback whale.  But it wasn't any of the ones we had spent time with during the morning hours.  We got the chance to watch Ebony move through the water. 

Ebony

She (yep even though she was by herself she has given birth to 10 calves over her lifetime; a very productive adult female!) was slowly traveling through the area given us some nice looks at her almost completely black tail.  As she pressed on we did too and made our way over to a pair of whales our friends on the Atlantic Queen had informed us of.  It was Pinball and her calf! 

Pinball

This pair had moved 5 miles from where we had seen them in the morning and guess what?  Not a single marker/fishing gear line was visible nearby!  No need to panic this afternoon.  This part of the ocean was for now gear free! 

Pinball and her calf off on a deeper dive

We also can't forget throughout our travels we spotted plenty of Minke whales this afternoon too!  Let us hope this weather lasts for a while and our whale sightings continue to provide wonderful looks at all the marine life Jeffreys Ledge has to hold!

Fin whale surfacing while a dolphin moves in the same direction

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July 11 on the Atlantic Queen

Pinball the humpback

We've had wonderful weather and whales this week!  We started by seeing a minke whale close to the Isles of Shoals, but were eager to get further offshore, so headed out to Jeffreys Ledge where we first saw a fin whale, and then spent time getting great looks at Dyad, a female humpback first seen in 1987.

Dyad

We got a really good example of what whales deal with on a day-to-day basis, as we watched Dyad nearly get hit by a passing large vessel. We are in the process of trying to inform relevant authorities that perhaps they should keep a closer watch for whales (and whale watch boats) when they are transiting through the Gulf of Maine.

Fin whale

We continued on and saw 2 more fin whales who were traveling in the same general direction, another humpback in the distance, and then cruised further to the east to find Pinball, a 23-year old whale, and her calf!

Pinball's distinctive fluke

Pinball and calf

Unfortunately, we also saw lots of marine debris during the trip (yet another human interaction whales have to deal with!), including bags and plastic bottles, even more than 20 miles offshore. To see a map of our debris sightings over the past few years, along with sightings of Pinball and other whales, you can click here.

Plastic bottle offshore

What appears to be a plastic bag - which can be a choking hazard for sea turtles and other marine life

Throughout the trip, minke whales were plentiful, also, bringing our totals of whales to 9 minkes, 3 fin whales, and 4 humpbacks - a terrific day!

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Prince of Whales July 11

Yet another fantastic day with whales and mother nature sending perfect summer conditions.  We saw a total of 7minke whales and 4 humpbacks,though we only spent time with 3.

Sedge

Sedge was one of our humpback whales we spent time with today. Sedge is a male who we first saw in 1988.  Unfortunately he has some major damage to his dorsal fin,perhaps the result of an entanglement.  He seems to be in good health despite the injury.  It is always so sad to seen the damage done to these gentle giants of the sea.

Fluke of Sedge

Sedge is a plant with a triangular stem that grows in wet places.  Sedge was all around us being pretty slow moving.

Boomerang and her new calf

Another day with a mom and calf pair.  Boomerang and her new calf.  I don't think I have seen this mom on the legde before, if so it was many years ago.  These two were a pleasure to spend time with.  The calf who will be named in a couple of years stayed close to its mom doing everything was was.

Boomerangs dorsal fin covered in barnacles

I keep telling our passengers the humpbacks have been difficult to track down in the past 3-4 weeks, but they seem to be coming back to the ledge, how long will they be around?  We don't know,come out soon so you don't miss them!
Congratulations to Christine who is originally from Kansas but now lives in Waltham Ma, who won our raffle today, "Flask"  the male humpback.  Thanks to all who went watching with us!












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July 10 Starfish

An eventful day out in the Gulf of Maine on the Starfish today! We weren't 3 miles out of the harbor when our passengers spotted a harbor seal and a harbor porpoise! Both sightings were very quick and unfortunately not everyone was able to see the seal. Luckily they didn't have to wait long because we came across another seal! A group of kids was very helpful in pointing these out to the other passengers. As we continued our way out to the ledge we found 3 minke whales before our first sighting of a fin whale that surprised everyone on the boat. Unfortunately this whale was traveling and we didn't spend much time with this individual. 

In the distance we had a report of a humpback whale. This particular whale is named Dyad, and has been hanging out on Jeffreys Ledge for a few days now. Dyad has not disappointed in the last few days. Always giving the passengers quite the show, and plenty of opportunities for photos of the underside of the fluke.

 

We finished our trip with another sighting of a fin whale, though very low in profile. Thank you to everyone who joined us on board the Starfish, and congratulations to Matthew from Georgia for winning the whale adoption raffle! See you again soon.

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