September 23 Prince of Whales

The seas certainly calmed down a bit in the last 24 hours! Today we headed toward the area we saw so many whales yesterday and never even made it there due to so many whales even closer to us! Sometimes we see a whale or two between the mainland and Jeffreys Ledge, but today we had a quite the number of whales just inside of the Ledge! Like yesterday, at times, everywhere you looked you could see blows! Again, humpback and fin whales were all mixed in the same area.

The first humpback we saw was young and was feeding perilously close to a large amount of fishing gear. At one point the whale breached and then continued to feed. We still don't know who this mystery whale is but it has been seen the past 2 days in the area.

Young humpback whale "flying" out of the ocean!

This is the same humpback whale who breached!

Soon after, we found a few fin whales including "Dingle" (#0369), an old favorite. Also, #0622 was found with a friend and at one point, a third fin whale joined this pair!

"Dingle" the fin whale

Fin whale #0622

Fin whale chevron marking

Spout of large fin whale

We also found 3 humpback whales in the area- these were also juveniles including Talus, Kickoff and a yet-to-be identified one.

Kickoff

Talus

On our way home, we passed by yet another fin whale- #0611! What a great day! We ended up with 13 fin whales and 4 humpback whales today! Certainly a great day!


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September 22 Atlantic Queen

Wow! Easily one of the best days of the season!  There were whales all around us today - and all in the same spot, very close to shore!  They were all circling and zig-zagging around, making it very hard to keep track of them, but we estimated there were about 20 whales in the area, and we got close looks at at least 6 humpbacks and at least 6 fin whales!

2 Fin whales and a humpback!

Alligator

Cinder

Hippocampus

2 Humpbacks

Humpback tail

The highlight, in addition to just having so many whales around, was getting to see several breaches!  One humpback breached 6 times, while another breached twice!  We also got to see humpbacks coming up to the surface with their mouths full, and even a fin whale on its side!

Humpback coming to the surface with its mouth full

Not-yet-identified humpback

Breach!

Shearwaters

Humpback

It was a bit of a swell-y day out there, so thanks to everyone who came aboard with us and hope you enjoyed the trip!

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September 22 Granite State

Happy Autumnal Equinox everyone!  Even though there was a change in seasons today the whales were out and about in full force regardless of what we humans may determine what time of year it is.  We recorded at least 14 Fin whales and 8 Humpback whales throughout our travels today.  The truly crazy part of the day included the fact that we were seeing more spouts out in the distance than we had time to go investigate.  Wow, there were a lot of whales today.


Most of the animals we were in close proximity of today were constantly circling around the area filtering out lots of salt water while trapping plenty of food inside their mouths thanks to hundreds of baleen plates lining these whales' upper jaws.  Our Fin whales were either charging through the water, perhaps chasing after fish, or constantly surfacing with such force that many of  these whales were actively participating in the feeding frenzy that seemed to be occurring all around us today. 

If you look closely you can even see another Fin whale's spout in the background from this particular Fin whale seen in the foreground for whales were surfacing everywhere today!

Out of the many Fin whales seen today we were able to identify one of the whales out in the field as #9721, a Fin whale first seen on Jeffreys Ledge in 1997! 

Fin whale #9721

With all the whales seen today there is still plenty of matching to do as our Fin whale and Humpback whale photographs are keeping us quite busy on land as we attempt to match up all the whales spotted today.

As our Fin whales continued to constantly change direction around us we also got the chance to witness plenty of Humpback whales utilizing the area as well; consuming plenty of food themselves!  At one point we had three Humpback whales group up together and surface each time with mouths fully extended out filtering out gallons of seawater through their baleen plates!

Three Humpback whale heads at the surface filtering salt water out of all their mouths!

Eventually the trio broke apart as two animals continued surfacing side by side while the third Humpback whale moved off in its own direction. 

Alligator

Even though this Humpback whale has very unique markings we are still in the process of finding a match in the Humpback Whale Catalog

Another currently unknown Humpback whale we are attempting to match up

From a research aspect it is so interesting to see the brief associations between these animals wondering why they may group up in the first place, and when/why they decide to move off in their own separate directions.  So mysterious and intriguing all at the same time... Once again it was a moment in time to be in the right place at the right time to witness these individual whales join forces for a few minutes before separating just a quickly.  Even after slightly splitting apart they still remained only yards from each other as they continued moving through the water on their own today. 

Two Humpback whales having very distant coloration patterns found on the underside of their tails

Two Humpback whales at the surface while moving around some fishing gear which can be some very threatening dangers to these whales as they move through the ocean chasing after fish

The more time we spent out on the water today the more spouts we continued to see and so eventually eased our way out of the immediate area to go check out some of the other spouts further offshore.  It didn't take long to once again encounter a few more whales.  Two Humpback whales appeared to be moving in towards all the other whale activity.  Thanks to a few quick photographs and some consulting with our friends from the Prince of Whales we were able to determine Hippocampus and Cinder as on the move together.

Hippocampus (above) was seen swimming in tandem with Cinder today

Looks like these whales wanted to get in on all the activity going on only a few miles from them.

Before heading home we also saw a few more Fin whales on the move as well as a couple more Humpback whales.  Zelle spent time circling, and filtering, around and we even passed by Vault on our way back towards Rye Harbor. 

Zelle's very unique black and white pigmentation pattern

Our travels home took us past yet another Humpback whale, Vault!

With so many whales around we wonder just how long the abundance of food will provide enough reason for these whales to stick around for the whales go wherever there is plenty of food for them to feed on.  It will surely be interesting to see what new surprises Jeffreys Ledge will provide for us tomorrow but it will most definitely be intriguing to go find out!

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September 22 Prince of Whales

Happy Autumnal Equinox!!  It certainly felt like fall when we left the dock this morning. Overcast skies, cool air and a bit of reminder of Mother Nature's power in terms of the sea conditions! We certainly were not expecting the rolly-polly seas out there today!  But the whales were well worth the uncomfortable ride! Once we got to our destination, we saw blows from whales all around us! I can't remember a time in recent history when we've had so many whales!

Humpback and Fin whales were all mixed in. We found singles, pairs and even a trio of fin whales!!  However, as a researcher, obtaining the data and images of each whale proved challenging and we only got a small fraction of the data we wanted out there! So many whales, so little time!

All things considered, we had an amazing trip with many close looks at many whales! Below are a few images of our adventure. Thanks to everyone for sharing this experience with us, even though I know many of you did not fully enjoy the oceanic gift from Mother Nature!

Two fin whales

Cinder, the humpback whale

Hippocampus, the humpback whale

Two humpback whales

Humpback whale's blowholes!

Close look at the second largest animal on Earth!

Fin whale- check out the distinctive scars behind the fin.

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September 21 Granite State

After being on land all week we had no idea what Jeffreys Ledge would hold in store for us as we were off in search of whales today.  Shortly after passing through the Isles of Shoals we were surprised to see a large spout suddenly appear.  A Fin whale was moving through the area. 

First Fin whale of the day

Turns out there were two Fin whales in the general vicinity but we decided to spend time with one that continued to remain a bit closer to us.  After getting some nice looks we decided to head towards Jeffreys Ledge where we had seen whale activity earlier in the week. 

As we continued to travel along our friends from the Prince of Whales called to report lots of whale activity near their vessel.  We decided to alter course and head towards the report in hopes that something would still be swimming around once we got there.  Once in the area we certainly had plenty to look at.  Our friends had brought us to an area where whales were everywhere!  Everything was circling around, surfacing sporadically, constantly making tight, tight turns!  Almost everything we saw was actively feeding.

Fin whales were surfacing with lower jaws bellowed out, surfacing with such force, there would be constant white-water around them... a huge indication of filtering and food constantly being trapped inside their large mouths! 

Fin whale showcasing so much of its body as it returns up from the depths of the ocean that not only can you see the swirly gray pattern (known as the chevron) but it also indicates lots of filtering is going on and thus current feeding is occurring by this animal!

One of the many Fin whales in the area swimming by

A few Fin whales were even paired up amazingly keeping in sync with each other as they shifted to the left and to the right with each breath of air.  In the mix of at least 7 Fin whales charging around there were also 3 Humpback whales doing the exact same thing.

The Humpback whales were also surfacing with lower jaws extended out and even saw a couple open-mouth lunges as they broke through the surface of the ocean.  It was truly whale pandemonium everywhere!  Whales were spending minutes under the water so at any given time you could see a visible spout from some mammoth whale continuing to circle around the area.

a

Cinder the Humpback whale

Humpback whale creating lots of white water as it surfaced filtering out plenty of salt water!

A new visitor to our area this season!  Great to see you doing some feeding Kilter the Humpback whale

With so much going on you didn't even know where to look as your eyes would constantly be catching whale-movement in some direction out on the water.  With all the whales constantly changing direction it was even a bit challenging to capture so many of these incredible moments on camera!  I will be the first one to tell you that these pictures do not do the trip justice!  What a great day out on the open ocean today.  Granted it was a bit chilly (keep in mind the ocean typically causes temperatures to be 10-15 degrees cooler out on the water than on land) but the whales continue to do what they do: search, chase, and eat lots of food!  Sure will be interesting to see what tomorrow has in store for us!

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September 17 Granite State

We spent the entire day out on Jeffreys Ledge and for the most part were in search of something a bit different than whales... we were bird watching.  Our all-day pelagic birding adventure meant we got the chance to get to areas of Jeffreys Ledge we typically don't get the opportunity to travel to on our half-day trips so we were excited to see what may be spending time on the ledge in terms of birds, and obviously whales!

Our passengers were at the ready with binoculars (and plenty of chum!) in hand as the horizon was constantly being searched in all directions for feathery flying creatures.  While most folks were keeping an eye to the sky we of course were focused on the water's edge.  Maybe a few whales would be around.  Conditions could not have been better for searching for all kinds of life throughout our travels as we headed offshore. 

Birds were sporadic and at times so were the whales but when there were whales around, they certainly were not in short supply!  Our grand totals (keep in mind we were out on the water for 9 hrs so these numbers are not normal for a typical whale watch) included: 1 Ocean sunfish, 1 Minke whale, two pods of Atlantic white-sided dolphins consisting of around 200 individuals in total, 9 Fin whales, 1 Right whale, 10 Humpback whales, 1 Lion's Mane Jellyfish, and 1 Sperm whale!  WOW!!!!

Some of our whales were definitely feeding as we saw a pair of Fin whales surfacing with lots of salt water being filtered out through their baleen plates as well as a trio of Humpback whales surfacing with lower jaws completely bellowed out also filtering out water and trapping plenty of food inside!  A good handful of our Humpback whales certainly looked small, believing many of our sightings were juveniles, as we are still in the process of positively identifying all of our whales from the day.  Known Humpbacks of the day do include: Cinder, Talus, and Flyball feeding together, Benthic and calf, and Vault and Backstroke on the move together.  We also realized that Benthic has not been sighted at all this season (by any research organization in the Gulf of Maine) AND was with a calf.

Benthic's almost all black tail

A new mom to add to the Humpback mothers for the year and a very exciting find to see the two of them in our area on Jeffreys Ledge!  

Cinder, Talus and Flyball swimming in tandem with each other (above and below)

We also had a trio of Fin whales moving through the water and spent time over the course of the day seeing spouts out in the distance but had to remind ourselves we were on a bird trip, not a full-blown whale watching adventure :) 

One of the many Fin whales seen

A day of dolphins is always a great day!

Young dolphin getting a breath of air

Not only did we see so many of our "typical" whale species of the day we were also treated to some VERY UNEXPECTED surprises.  Our distant look at a Right whale was a fun addition to the species of the day but nothing beat out the ultimate species of the day... a Sperm whale!!!

The ocean was so calm due to almost the complete lack of wind and visibility was fabulous so seeing spouts to a trained-eye was ideal.  At one point as we were scouting out birds one of our eagle-eyed crew members started to become very intrigued with a spout out in the distance.  A few times the exhalation from this creature was very much angled from the whale.   No way... that couldn't be possible.  Feasible yes, but still highly unlikely.  The longer we all started to hone in on this whale we all started to realize what was near by.  We in fact had a Sperm whale in the area!  A quick check with our ornithologist to head towards a whale not a bird, and we were off to investigate this particular animal.  Indeed it really was what we thought we had.  It was some of the best looks ever at a Sperm whale mainly because we very, very, very rarely have one of the deepest diving whales in all the world out on Jeffreys Ledge! 

Sperm whale spout so distinctive from any other whale

Even our birders were ecstatic to get such awesome looks at such a bizarre, and unique, species.  It was absolutely awesome.

The "wrinkly" body of a Sperm whale

Though not only were we seeing whales and birds we also had a bit of extra excitement for all on board.  We got the chance to check out a Lion's Mane Jellyfish throughout our travels!  The ocean certainly holds lots of interesting looking creatures and we were all astounded by what we got the chance to see and spend time with. 

Lion's Mane Jellyfish providing a safe haven for some small schooling fish that certainly appeared to be unaffected by the jelly's stinging tentacles

Can you see some of the Lion's Mane's tentacles in the water? It's the string-like objects you see on the left side of this photo!

What an incredible day of sighting so many ocean-dwelling creatures.  We had wonderful weather, great passengers, hardcore chum-masters (for the birds, not for attracting whales) and fantastic sightings that truly made for an absolutely astonishing day surrounded by wildlife.

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