August 3 Granite State

This morning's trip had an unwelcome surprise as the weather was pretty much exactly the opposite of what the forecast was calling for. Instead of sunny skies, no wind, and calm seas it turned out to be mainly cloudy skies, a nice swell, and just enough wind to make the ride a bit up and down. Alas the sun finally came out and the seas calmed (eventually) but hey, we go with the flow, and like to use the forecast more as a guideline not so much as a definite fact. :)  Anyway we found a Minke whale quite inshore of Jeffreys Ledge. 

Minke whale (above and below)

Based on the photographs taken today I do believe it is even the same whale we saw yesterday afternoon! This Minke whale was still moving through the area and allowed for us to get some great looks at this wild mammal. We then headed further offshore to search for other whales but came up short. Searching other areas of the ocean is how we find whales so if we don't go searching we may not know if more whales are around. Sometimes we get lucky and find them and sometimes we don't but, if you don't try you'll never know!

This afternoon we headed back to where we had spotted our Minke whale from this morning. No luck. We were not seeing it. So we pressed on to other areas where whales have been. We ended up in an area where we were able to relocate another Minke whale. Great, a whale! Oh wait...not so great. This animal was only taking a couple breaths at the surface, moving around a lot, and with other boats in the area we decided it was best to see if we could perhaps find another whale to look at. Our travels continued and soon we were seeing splashing in the distance. Could it be? Yep, there were dolphins ahead of us! There were only a few whales in the group and got some great looks as they surfaced in our wake and alongside the boat before diving below the ocean surface. 

Two of the four Atlantic white-sided dolphins we saw for a brief moment in time this afternoon

Then we waited and waited some more. Really? Again? These dolphins had disappeared. We soon came to realize that as easily as these whales had appeared they also decided to disappear just as quickly.

The whales appeared to not be on our side today but as we have seen in the past they are constantly switching things up on us so we shall see what the ocean has in store for us once again tomorrow!

 

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August 2 Atlantic Queen

We had a gorgeous day on the ocean!  Minke whales were plentiful - as we headed out past the Isles of Shoals, it wasn't long before we spotted 3 of them!  These baleen whales charged around us, either feeding or chasing after prey, and we got several great looks near the boat - we even got to see the "minke mittens" - the white patches on top of the whales' flippers!

Minke whale, with a look at its mouth

See the "minke mitten"?

After watching these 3 whales for awhile, we cruised out a bit further, and found another minke whale. This one wasn't quite as cooperative, so we let it go on its way.

Pretty soon, it was time to head back to Rye Harbor. But on the way, we stopped near Duck Island and got a look at about a dozen seals (harbor, and possibly a few gray seals) sunning themselves on the ledges. We then passed by the Isles of Shoals and got some nice looks at the islands.

Thanks to all who joined us today!

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August 2 Granite State

Today we got a chance to get some great looks at a Minke whale charging around this afternoon. We actually had two Minke whales in the area but half way through watching our first whale this animal swapped positions with another whale nearby. Our first Minke whale was surfacing for a couple breaths every 8-10 minutes at a time. This was making the process of actually watching a whale a bit challenging. As we continued to follow this whale and wait patiently for a couple good looks (which eventually occurred) suddenly, just like that, we ended up following a different Minke whale. Two whales crossed paths somewhere underneath the water for soon we were watching another whale that had a different shape to its dorsal fin; a clear indication that another whale was next to us.

Minke whale and our friends aboard the Captain's Lady 3

We of course didn't recognize the difference until later on in the trip when we had a moment to check out our photographs. Sometimes even we get out-witted by these whales! Regardless of which whale we were watching this animal was spending much more time at the surface, and charging around, creating lots of white water at the surface.

One of our Minke whales



Minke whale on the move!

We also got a chance to check out the Eagle, the U.S. Coast Guard training vessel which was headed to Portsmouth this afternoon. 

The Eagle underway

What an impressive ship to see as the 300ft Eagle houses 80 U.S.C.G. crew and 120 cadets!


Did you know the Eagle has 5 miles of rigging and 200 lines that are individually named? Hope you are a fast learner in order to sail this incredible ship!

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August 1, Captain's Lady III

Ever tried to tell a 40-70 ton animal where to go? If so, you probably know it didn't listen and it went wherever it wanted.  That was the case today. The whales we had yesterday decided to move further south, increasing our already-long commute by at least 3 miles.  I am still amazed that we can drive over 30 miles of ocean and see nothing on the surface, and then suddenly be surrounded by nearly a dozen whales.

Today our long drive was well worth it! We got great looks at 2 fin whales and a humpback whale, and also had several minke whales all around us. A third fin whale was in the distance and it seemed like the whale activity was everywhere we looked!

The first fin whale was a huge surprise- it was one of our Adopt-a-Whales, Fjord!  This whale is known to show up early in the season, and then occasionally later in the season. We only saw him once this year so far and that was way back on May 19!  Welcome back Fjord!!

Fjord's obvious fin

 The next fin whale was a bit of a puzzle- I knew we had seen this whale in prior seasons but couldn't positively ID her without the catalog in hand. Later in the day, after checking the catalog, I identified this whale as #0417- a female that we first saw in 2004. Although we have never seen her with a calf to verify her gender, our research colleagues told us she has calved in 2003 and 2008!

Fin whale #0417's beautiful blaze!

Fin whale #0417

 As we left the fin whales, we saw several minkes all around and then another species of whale- a humpback was in the neighborhood too!! Nile is still in the area and we got great looks at her today!

The "big-winged New Englander"

Diving

Nile's fin and tag scar

Nile!

Although our time was limited, Captain Chris did a great job at safely working around the whales to give us the best possible looks. Again, we apologize for the long ride and late arrival home, but when in whale-land, we need to go with the flow!  Nature always keeps us on our toes, and in the end Nature will always win!


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August 1 Granite State

Well today did not go quite as planned. We saw whales on both our morning and afternoon trips but those whales certainly appeared as if they had no desire to be watched for long throughout the day. Multiple Minke whales were seen all day but almost every time we made our way to where the whale was it would only spend a couple of breaths at the surface and then disappear. Relocating them once they came back up proved to work (as is usually the case) a handful of times but the whales were definitely winning in the game of hide-and-seek out on Jeffreys Ledge today. 

One of the Minke whales seen this morning

Then again all the whales always dictate what we will or won't see. They are out searching for food and if they are on the move we have to attempt to predict what direction they are moving while they spend 5-10+ minutes under the water at any given time. Ever try covering your eyes for that length of time and then trying to find someone who moved at varying speeds in a direction only the "hider" knows? Exactly....pretty challenging stuff. Today the whales reminded us that these wild animals have a mind all their own and they can, and very easily cannot, be conducive to us trying to watch them. The good news is while some whales were a bit challenging than others we did get to check out a few of our whales today. 

Minke whale near Boon Island this afternoon

The tip of this Minke whale's tail (right) and the dorsal fin (left) as it swims along the surface

We even saw a distant breach as one animal created quite the splash 3 times out on the horizon this morning. This afternoon we also got a chance to swing by Boon Island to check out the local seal hangout which ended up having a handful of these mammals both on the rocks and in the water.

Lots of seals on the rocks at Boon Island (look where the light colored rocks become darker and that's where all the seals are!)

Seals looking at us looking at them

Just as we always say, every day is different and today was just that.

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Wednesday, July 31st, Granite State

Another picture perfect day was on tap as we left the harbor in the morning to search for whales.  We started only about 3 miles from Rye with a very unique Minke whale.  This particular minke whale las left without a dorsal fin after some type of human interaction.  We actually saw this whale last season and the wound was quite fresh with pink flesh showing through and white tissue along the edges, showing us that the wound was starting to heal.

Notice the large area of white scarring where the dorsal fin used to be

We saw this whale again today and the scar is all white now, showing us that it has healed up quite nicely.  We are just very happy that this Minke survived to tell its story and that it swimming around with no problems.

We continued on past the Isles of shoals and headed towards an area where other whale activity was spotted late the previous evening.  Its always a chance you take in searching an area 12+ hours after a sighting, with no guarantee those whales would still be offshore on Jeffrey's Ledge.  But, it was a beautiful day and the conditions could not have been better for sighting whales.  Throughout our travel, we saw a total of 8 different Minke whales and as we started to run out of time for further exploration offshore, our Captain spotted a spout from a whale about a mile away.  We were very short on time, but really wanted to see what was there.  As we approached, the whale started to go on a deeper dive raising its tail high above the water's surface.  It turned out to be a male Humpback whale named Hornbill, first identified in 1977.  Even though we had a short period of time to spend with this whale as it had taken us 28 miles from Rye harbor, it was great to know that Hornbill was back on Jeffrey's Ledge continuing to feed

One of our many Minke whales from the morning

Hornbill

 In the afternoon we started to head slightly South from where we had left Hornbill in the morning because he started heading in that direction when we left him.  We also had 2 other whale watching boats scoping out the area as well and since we all try to cover different areas, we decided to all spread out in our search for Hornbill.

As we were traveling, we received reports of whale activity in a different location, so we adjusted our course and we were lucky to find a very nice pod of toothed whales, Atlantic white-sided dolphins.  This pod was milling around the surface and stayed close by the boat.  We were able to spend quality time with them and it was great way to start our trip.

We then started back on our search for Hornbill and other whales that may have moved into the area.  We were once again surprised by 2 different Ocean Sunfish as we travelled along, including one of them that came clear out of the water!

They are such unique creatures and may be one of the most bizarre things you get to see when out on the ocean.  

All 3 whale watch vessels, including us, searched as much area as possible in hopes of relocating Hornbill, but came up short.  We all however found our own whales to look at and we were pleased to have found

some toothed whales to enjoy during our afternoon.  Every trip is truly a new experience and we look forward to what tomorrow may bring.

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July 31 Atlantic Queen

Another beautiful day out on the water. The air was dry and cool as we made our way out to Jeffreys Ledge. We traveled a total of 27 miles yesterday in search of whales! Alas we were unable to locate one of the humpback whales in our area, but we did come across a wonderful pod of Atlantic white sided dolphins! They were such a playful group and gave passengers some wonderful looks as they swam under the boat. Here are some of the highlights.

A pair of Atlantic white sided dolphins. The front one looks to have a piece of seaweed trailing from its dorsal fin. 

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