Aug 4 Prince of Whales

Beautiful afternoon on the ocean!

Today, the start to our trip wasn't exactly how we like to start any trip. We got a call from a local sport fishing boat of a deceased leatherback turtle. Leatherbacks are endangered and rare to see in our area. One had been reported floating in the area for the past 2 days so we decided we had a hearty enough crowd to investigate and obtain images for the folks at NOAA who keep track of these events.

A bit further offshore, we spotted our first blows- from living animals! But right before we got to the whales, a blue shark came up right in front of the boat! Great photo opportunity and views of this shy species!  Blue sharks are usually about 5-8 feet long!

Blue Shark

 Soon the humpback whales came up and one started rolling on its side and slapping its flippers on the water making a really loud noise!

Left flipper and fluke

Right flipper and fluke

Cajun, our flipper slapping humpback!

Crystal- hanging out with Cajun and getting a little active as well!

Crystal, the 1979 or 1980 calf of Salt who is famous for being the first humpback to be given a name!

Cajun- 2 flippers up!

 The coolest part of Cajun's flipper slapping was that soon after she started, we noticed another humpback in the area- about a mile away- doing the same behavior! Flipper slapping is assumed to be a form of communication, as the sound the flipper makes hitting the surface can travel quite a distance, and this was evidence of just that! The whale in the distance was Bat, another female humpback!

As we moved away from Cajun and Crystal, we approached Bat. She was no longer flipper slapping but instead diving deep.

Bat, the humpback

As it was time to go, we spotted another humpback in the area. This one was quite difficult to get looks at and never fluked for us so we are still unsure who it was. Also, a 5th humpback was making its way into the area as we were leaving! So nice to see so many whales!!

Also a small harbor seal popped up as we were leaving- perfect end to a great afternoon!

Thanks to all of our happy passengers and congratulations to Mary, winner of our raffle today!


Keep in touch! Become a Fan on Facebook || Follow Us On Twitter

Atlantic Queen August 4

It was hot on the dock today but even hotter on the ledge, with whales and dolphin that is!  We got a call about some dolphin so we headed out to the hot numbers.  The report turned out to be a pod of about 20-30 Atlantic white sided dolphin!  They just stayed by the boat with us showing the passengers how fun, energetic,and curious they can be

2 dolphin right next to us

"Crystal"

Crystal is a male whose mom is "Salt" one of the first documented humpback whales in The Gulf of Maine,I have not seen this whale in about 15years,a thrill to see him again!

"Bat"

"Cajun"

 Bat and Cajun are both females.  Bat was first sighted in 1979 and had her first calf in 1990 named Jagger, Claddaugh in 1997 with calves also in 2000, 2004,and 2008.
Cajun was born in 1998 and had her first calf in 2009, Vault,and a 2010 calf.

So many passengers supported us by purchasing our new " 10 Year Anniversary" clothing and our adorable stuffed animals, thank you all!









Keep in touch! Become a Fan on Facebook || Follow Us On Twitter

August 3 Atlantic Queen

Absolutely incredible day out at Jeffreys Ledge. We were all getting a little nervous when 3:00 rolled around and we hadn’t seen a whale yet. But good things come to those who wait. In the distance we saw a spout from a fin whale, and as we made our way over to this whale we saw another spout and then another! Turns out there were four fin whales in this area all swimming along one another.

In the distance we saw a few more spouts and decided to check out a new group of whales so as to not overstay our welcome with the first group. In the second group we found 3 more fin whales! Fin whales are a type of baleen whale and are typically solitary animals. There must have been lots of food in this area!

Some of the looks that we got from these whales were even surprising to us!

After these whales went down for deeper dives we decided to explore some of the ledge closer to home. On the way we were surrounded by more fin whale spouts, but decided to press on in hopes of finding some new species. In the distance we saw quite a bit of splashing and decided to investigate. And boy am I glad we did!

At first we thought it might be a breaching whale, but quickly the splashing stopped and we didn’t see any spouts from the presumed humpback whale that was there. Then we started seeing dorsal fins peaking out over the surface of the water. Strange…they didn’t look like Atlantic white sided dolphins. Sharks maybe? But lots of them? It turns out they were Risso’s dolphins!

I can’t even begin to explain how excited I was to see these little guys! It was such a surprise and a rare event for us out on Jeffreys Ledge. Risso’s dolphins are a type of toothed whale (odontocete) that can reach lengths of 10 feet long and weigh upwards of 600-1,000 pounds! Typically Risso’s spend their time out further near the continental shelf and don’t make their way closer to shore. Absolutely amazing day! One of our interns, Alicia, said it was like watching the US team win Olympic gold! Can’t argue with that!

Overall we had 12 fin whales and a small pod (approximately 5) Risso’s dolphins! Not to show our geeky side too much, but that is a total of 1.4 million pounds of whale! Thank you to everyone who joined us out on the water today! I hope you enjoyed the trip as much as I did. Hope to see you soon!

Keep in touch!Become a Fan on Facebook || Follow Us On Twitter

Aug 3 Prince of Whales

Though the morning trip was a bit of a surprise with the swell coming in from the SE, the rocking back and forth put some passengers to sleep, while others may not have appreciated the "gift" from Mother Nature as much. Nonetheless, we managed to find a very nice fin whale thanks to our friends on the Granite State. This fin whale, likely #0931, was surfacing submarine-style; popping up out of nowhere, and then sinking without actually diving.

Even though this whale swam right towards some fishing gear, it managed to steer clear, avoiding a potential entanglement which could have been lethal.

The seas calmed down for the afternoon trip and we were fortunate to find an active pod of 100+ Atlantic white sided dolphins!

These dolphins were quite active on their own- tail slapping like the once shown in the top 2 images above, but also seemingly enjoyed playing in our wake (bottom 2 images).

As we watched the dolphins, a large whale surfaced nearby. This turned out to be Comet, one of our Adoptable fin whales!!  Comet was a bit evasive at first but soon slowed down. Our last view of her was when she surfaced right behind our boat, giving us all a clear view. She was lifting her flukes just barely to the surface repeatedly. Then, just before she dove, she gave us a clear indication of what she had been feeding on- red krill!

In the meantime, a minke whale popped up but soon disappeared, evading a photo opportunity. Certainly a lovely afternoon on the Prince of Whales! Congrats to Miles, our winner of today's raffle- enjoy your adopted whale, Comet!



Keep in touch! Become a Fan on Facebook || Follow Us On Twitter

August 3 Granite State

This morning we dealt with quite an unexpected guest... a grand swell out on the open ocean.  The wind was minimal so other than the constant up and down motion (for some: fun, for others: not so much fun) we rocked up and down as we headed toward Jeffreys Ledge.  With a bit of hazy conditions to deal with we ventured to areas we've recently been seeing whales and slowed the boat down.  We took our time searching for signs of whales as we eased our way around.  Soon there was a spout!  It was a Fin whale.  As we came into the area we could tell this whale was filtering out lots of salt water.  This whale was doing some morning feeding.  Almost each time it surfaced after a dive this whale was coming up with its lower jaw maxed out to capacity holding lots of ocean water and food inside! 

The white lower jaw (green sheen) of this Fin whale as this whale continues filtering out water this morning

A few times we were convinced the whale preferred the stern of our boat as it kept surfacing just beyond us.  Lots of circling, lots of filtering, and lots of incredible looks at this animal! 

This whale is HUGE! You can see the tip of its head(right) all the way to its dorsal fin (left) but keep in mind we still are missing the tailstock and tail of this whale!

We were even able to match it to our Fin whale catalog as a whale first sighted on Jeffreys Ledge in 2009, it was #0931. 

Fin whale #0931 surfacing for a breath of air and filtering out lots of salt water all at the same time

After our great looks we continued further offshore and ended up coming across a few more Fin whales.  One stop was on a pair of whales as they moved through the water together.  We spent some time with these Fin whales, spotted a few more, and even got the chance to take a look at a Blue shark before it was time to head for home.

Blue shark swimming from right to left

We knew we had gotten some wonderful looks at some of the second largest animals in the world this morning so we knew it would be hard-pressed to top that this afternoon.  Only the ocean knew what was in store for us.  This afternoon was spotted a spout from a whale and began to make our way into the area only to start seeing more and more spouts in all directions.  We were making our way to the closest whale, a Humpback whales, when we began to try to count just how many other whales were in the vicinity.  We got a chance to spend time with Ballpark the Humpback whale who was moseying on through the area while also seeing a single Fin whale out in the distance.

Ballpark

However, the other excitement was coming from out in the distance and heading our way.  A group of at least 5 Fin whales (perhaps a few more!) were moving through the water together.  The spouts keep rising from the surface as we couldn't even tell which animal was breathing when because so many tall column-like blows keeps appearing.  It was incredible.  The group passed just beyond Ballpark and at one point anywhere you may have been aboard the boat, there was a whale spouting near by!

Ballpark off on another dive

Ballpark began to move in the opposite direction and we stayed with this whale one last time before making our way in the opposite direction to get some looks at our moving mass of Fin whales.  The group began to separate before getting to the area as we saw at least 3 whales off our left side and two more Fin whales off our right side.  Even with our whales venturing off in different directions it was great seeing so many of these animals off either side of the boat!  We were about to decide which group to stay closer to when we got word on the radio that one of the other boats had some dolphins.  They weren't Atlantic white-sided though which are typically the type of dolphins we see.  No, our friends aboard the Atlantic Queen had found a pod of Risso's dolphins!!!!!

Such the unique looking animal known as a Risso's dolphin!

Risso's dolphin as a Wilson's Storm Petrel flys by

It has been 5 years since someone on the crew of the Granite State has seen this type of marine mammal and we all spend a lot of time on the ocean.  What an incredible opportunity!!!  As much as we wanted to stay near our Fin whales we knew we couldn't pass up the chance to head over to the rare sighting!!!  There were around 15 Risso's in this pod and as they circled around you could watch their lighter colored bodies under the water as they moved like green clouds before rising to the surface for a breath of air. 

Circling around the area moving around together

Lighter colored Risso's dolphin in the group

Such a completely unexpected sighting and truly elated to see these most interesting whales in our part of the ocean!

Dark eyeball from one of our dolphins!

Even after having left the group of Fin whales we were not done with that species as we even got a nice look at another Fin whale moving through the area as we spent time with the Risso's.  Life was everywhere. 

One of the many Fin whales seen this afternoon

All in all we ended up seeing at least 10 Fin whales this afternoon along with Ballpark and our toothed-whale visitors the Risso's dolphins. 

Scars along this whales body (unfortunately due to human interactions at some point during its life) does help us to tell this particular Fin whale apart from others of its kind

Do I dare ask what will tomorrow bring?

Keep in touch! Become a Fan on Facebook || Follow Us On Twitter

August 2 Starfish

Incredibly foggy start to the day. We were worried that we wouldn't be able to get off the dock, or even under the bridge. Luckily we decided to press on and see if the fog would lift. Just as we saw the shore disappear into the fog the visibility greatly improved out at sea. Once we made our way out to Jeffreys Ledge we were met by 4 separate fin whales. One of the fin whales gave passengers quite a few good looks!

Fin whale

Fin whale poop!

In the distance we saw the Atlantic Queen and decided to head over and see what they had found. We were surprised to find a pair of humpback whales! One of which was Ballpark, a humpback whale with a large barnacle on its dorsal fin. Ballpark was incredibly curious and kept approaching our boat. Perhaps Ballpark was "people watching" while we were whale watching.

Ballpark (see the large barnacle on the dorsal fin)

Thanks to everyone who joined us today! Happy early anniversary Leslie (and husband). Hope you enjoy your new whale adoption of Comet!
Keep in touch!Become a Fan on Facebook || Follow Us On Twitter

August 2 Granite State

Still can't believe the month of August is already here!  The whales continue to be on Jeffreys Ledge but each time we venture offshore not even each day, it is seriously each trip, is so vastly different than the previous and soon-to-be next!  There seems to be no rhyme or reason to what we see.  Whales move in and move out.  Animals from one trip disappear during the next and new ones move in without having been seen just hours prior.  It is insane and yet spectacular all at the same time.  Different whales different behaviors; it is wildlife at its finest.

This morning we began our day with some very impressive whales holding their breaths.  Our first Fin whale was under the water for 16 minutes and even as we eased our way out of the area we still never saw it return up for a few breaths of air.  Definitely doing a great job spending time, and probably great distances, over the region under the water.  Next even a Minke whale was being elusive.  It seemed everything we were seeing wanted nothing to do with us.  With a few more spouts out in the distance maybe the third time would be the charm.  It worked!  We ended up spending time with two Fin whales.  It was Ladder (again!) moving through the water with another identified whale, #0926.  While this animal does not have a name, it was still fun to see both these large Fin whales circle around before taking off and ultimately splitting apart.  We got some great looks at these whales and then pressed on to explore some more areas of Jeffreys Ledge.

Fin whale #0926

Ladder

Our next whale was another species.  A Humpback whale surfaced just out in the distance.  We maneuvered over, watched this whale go on a deeper dive, and 18 minutes later we were still waiting!  More whales were holding their breaths...  Sometimes the whales we see spend only a couple minutes under the water and today we had the complete opposite.  But honestly that's okay.  We all go out in search of wild animals.  There is no training, no feeding, no planned behaviors from any whale we see.  Instead we just catch a glimpse into the lives of such incredible creatures and sometimes we come across whales that spend a good bit of time under the water.  The whales choose their behaviors, not us, we only get the lucky chance to see any of them to begin with.

With more time we continued on and soon spotted another spout.  One turned into two and then more.  We ended up in an area where we had 3 Fin whales and 1 Humpback whale.  Two of the Fin whales were moving in tandem together while the 3rd moved into the area on its own. 

Fin whale pair moving effortlessly along

Our Humpback whale was Ballpark and was just circling close by.  This is a two year old whale and just got its name last month!

Ballpark the Humpback whale

At one point as we sat with our engines shut off as we had a Humpback whale off our right side, a Fin whale off our left side, and a pair of Fin whales swim by the stern.  It was awesome!  Nothing beats sitting in silence, floating on the surface, just watching and hearing the whales move around.

This Fin whale swam just in front of the boat!

This afternoon our first sighting came up unexpectedly.  A small pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins appeared just ahead of us.  We got a few look at these 5 whales before we lost track of them as they swam through the area.  Since we were still inshore of the Ledge we decided to continue on in search of more whale-life.

Our next stop was on a Fin whale.  This animal was just circling around so we got some great looks at the whale on each side of the boat. 

Fin whale taking a good breath of air

Fin whale dorsal fin

There were a few more Fin whales around but all the whales started to cross paths with each other and with another whale watching boat in the area and multiple whales around we didn't want to interfere with the whales' movements so we eased our way out of the area and made our way over to a few other spouts not far away.  We saw two Humpback whales, both heading in different directions, so decided to start with the whale a bit closer to us.  Turns out it was Ballpark again.  We enjoyed watching this whale move through the area when suddenly it decided to change up its behavior.  This whale decided to lift the entire back half of its body out of the water.  34 lob-tails and 1 tail breach later (thanks for recording all the behaviors from one of our Blue Ocean Society's intern, Katie!) Ballpark went back to just swimming through the water.  This whale put on quite the display for everyone on board. It was incredible. 

Tail breach!

Not only seeing this whale constantly launch part of its body into the air but hearing the sound as the tail smacks back down on the surface is something unlike any other. 

Ballpark lob-tailing high into the sky

Still going strong!

We attempted to relocate the other Humpback whale in the area after leaving Ballpark but this whale was moving further offshore and we were running short on time.  It was another great day out on the ocean.  I wonder what we will encounter come tomorrow for another day of whale watching on Jeffreys Ledge...

Keep in touch! Become a Fan on Facebook || Follow Us On Twitter