June 9 Granite State

Minimal wind, a clear horizon, and sunny skies always makes a trip towards Jeffreys Ledge that much more enjoyable and such was the case today. We first got some great looks at a Minke whale. With the ocean providing a good swell, but minimal waves, you could watch this whale as it swam right towards us at one point. 

Our first whale of the day (above and below). This Minke whale unfortunately has some scars beyond its dorsal fin (see photo below) reminding us of the dangers that these whales face on a daily basis: human activity. Luckily it is great to know this whale still swims free today
 


After a few looks we decided to head further offshore. We crossed paths with another Minke whale in our travels before ending up with Mogul the Humpback whale. 

Mogul

With reports of this whale on the move (thanks to our friends aboard Captain's Lady III) we knew Mogul had been passing through the area but no one really knows what a wild animal is going to do when. We were lucky enough to spot Mogul out in the distance and quickly realized this whale had apparently decided to change up its behavior. The majority of the time we spent with this whale it was circling around and constantly creating bubble clouds each time it resurfaced after a deeper dive.

Remnant of a bubble cloud

These clouds are a technique Humpback whales use to corral fish and it is quite the fun sighting to witness! A few times we saw signs of so much food below us we could only imagine Mogul was in the act of having some lunch! 

A photo of our fish finder while we were watching Mogul. The top of the picture is the surface of the ocean. The water depth is only 126ft (solid thick red line running across the center of the photo) and the dark blobs of red in between 0-100ft is a whole lot of some thick mass: potential whale food! Wow!

Mogul circling here, making bubble clouds there, and even surfacing just off our starboard bow certainly gave us all something to remember the trip by. 

A bubble cloud forming right next to the boat!

Many thanks to all our passengers for spending your day with us and of course to the whales for doing what they do best: being wild, unpredictable, and always an impressive sight.

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June 9 Atlantic Queen

Mogul's dorsal

The whale of the day was Mogul! This whale has been hanging out in our area for the past few weeks - or at least he has been in the area on most of the days we've gotten out on the boat.  Mogul is a 27-year old male humpback whale, who has a distinctive fluke that is mostly white, with a dark line on the left side.

Mogul's diving was unpredictable - he did a couple long dives, followed by some shorter dives. Here's a sequence of one of the dives when we got a nice look at his fluke:

Even though it's been a windy, rainy week, we had a gorgeous day on the water, and it was so nice to get offshore! Thanks to everyone who joined us aboard the Atlantic Queen today!

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June 9, Captain's Lady III

After all of that rain and wind this weekend, it was fantastic to get back out to Jeffreys Ledge! We headed out of the Merrimack River and were greeted by a nice easterly swell from the passing storm. Not too bad, considering the recent weather. As we headed to the Ledge, Captain Chris spotted a blow near some fishing boats. We headed over and found Mogul, the humpback whale!

Mogul, going down

Mogul appeared to be searching for food- surfacing in all different directions, making our viewings of him unpredictable. But suddenly this large whale decided to surface right next to us!! Amazing!!  We all got fantastic looks at him before he lifted his tail and dove.  Whales in general are difficult to predict so we always welcome those surprisingly close sightings!

Mogul's dorsal fin

A minke whale scooted by as we were watching Mogul. Although we didn't get close looks at it, it was coming up frequently around the boat.  Thanks to all of the enthusiastic passengers aboard today! We hope to see you back soon!

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June 6, 2013 Atlantic Queen

It was a wonderful morning in Rye Harbor. We left the harbor around 9:00 a.m. with a school group in search of whales. Before we made it to the Isles of Shoals we stumbled across a minke whale feeding just a few miles off shore! He was very quick and hard to keep track of, but passengers we able to get a few quick glimpses. As we pressed on we found another minke whale. This whale was a little more cooperative and gave passengers some great looks at its feeding behavior. 

We did not stay long, and decided to press on in search of some larger whales. 

After reaching Jeffreys Ledge we decided to head south. Suddenly we were surprised by a small pod of harbor porpoise. We estimated there were 6-7 harbor porpoise in the pod. Harbor porpoise are one of the smallest marine mammals. While we were watching the harbor porpoise we saw a spout in the distance and decided to investigate. 

It was a humpback whale by the name of Mogul. Mogul is a male humpback, although we can only assume he is male because Mogul has never been seen with a calf. He was born in 1986, and his mother's name is Parrot. 

Thank you to everyone for such a wonderful trip! 

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June 2, Captains Lady III

The breeze was blowing today, attempting to keep things cool offshore and on land. It also was kicking up some waves once we got offshore, on Jeffreys Ledge, keeping our passengers cooled down as well! We were talking with the fishing boats that were out ahead of us, trying to find the best place to go, and it turned out, it was on the southern part of the Ledge.  We headed to the area and found a couple of other whale watch boats in the area as well.

We saw a spout from a humpback whale and moved in to check it out. Turned out this was Hornbill, a male humpback first seen in the mid-1970’s! Hornbill has been frequenting the Jeffreys Ledge area more often in recent years. Great to see him back again! 

After watching him for several surfacings and dives, we decided it was time to head home. We were waiting for one last look before going in. But Hornbill decided it was also time to leave. He must have headed off to the East at a quick pace since we never saw him again!

Thanks to all or our hearty passengers who spent their Sunday cooling off with the whales!

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June 1 Atlantic Queen

What a beautiful day out on the water. It was so nice to escape the heat on land. We headed out of the harbor with a little southerly wind which kept everyone nice and cool during today's trip. Today we traveled about 24 miles off the coast of Rye, out to a place called Jeffreys Ledge. Jeffreys Ledge is one of the primary feeding grounds for the Gulf of Maine whales, and a great place to go when you need to eat 1 to 2 million calories every day!

We started the trip off with Boomerang. She is a female humpback who recently had a calf last year. She was looking good, and gave the passengers a few great looks at her fluke.

After spending some time with Boomerang we decided to move on because we saw another spout in the distance. This spout belonged to Pinball. Pinball is another female humpback whale who also had another calf last year! Pinball is one of our adoptable whales. If you are interested in adopting Pinball or any of the other adoptable whales, you can visit www.blueoceansociety.org

While we were waiting for Pinball to come back to the surface from one of her dives we also had a quick minke whale pass our bow. You had to be equally as quick to see the little whale, as it zoomed past our bow in search of fish.

Thank you to everyone who made today's trip as enjoyable as it was. It was so nice to be back out on the water.

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June 1 Granite State

Happy June everyone! The weather certainly felt like summer but as always (almost!) the ocean does a great job providing much cooler temperatures (typically 10-15 degrees cooler!) so it was a nice way to break away from some hot land temperatures. We were fortunate enough to spend time with 3 Humpback whales today. Mogul, Boomerang and Pinball were circling, traveling, and even pooping for all of our passengers today. 

Mogul

Boomerang

Pinball

Nothing like starting out a whale watch with some brown whale defecation from Mogul! Whale poop is a great indication of recent feeding and depending on the color researchers can even determine what the recent food of choice was! A brown cloud means Mogul was recently chowing down on schooling fish. Had the cloud been red, Mogul would have been digesting large amounts of krill.  Regardless of the color, coming across an unexpected sighting of remnants of undigested food is always a fun sighting for people of all ages on the boat. 

We will see what the weather holds for us tomorrow but it was great to know some of the whales we've been seeing already this year are still around!

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