September 20 Granite State

It was a picture perfect day: calm seas, sunny skies and plenty of whales around to watch. 4 Fin whales, 5 Humpback whales, 8 Minke whales and a handful of Harbor seals and a Gray seal rounded out the plethora of life offshore today.

Fin whale swimming through the flat calm ocean

Everyone was out on such a beautiful day. Fin whale going on a deeper dive while a fishing boat hauls up its gear

Many of the whales we saw were either slowly moving through the area or just circling around allowing for some quality time spent with so many species. 

Such a distinctive dorsal fin on this Minke whale (so distinctive we know we've seen this whale multiple times this year!)

First Fin whale of the day (above and below) showing us so much of its enormous body!

Some whales were so relaxed they were actually napping at the surface just hovering along on the water's edge. This was the case with most of the Humpback whales we spent time with. Our first Humpback whale was a new sighting for us this season. Trowel is once again in our neck of the ocean.

Trowel above and below

We saw this whale last year but have yet to have any sightings of this animal this year so it was a nice surprise to find Trowel moving through the area. We even got a chance to spend a little bit of time with Patches before ending our trip with a trio of napping whales.

Humpback whales slowly gliding past us

Valley, her calf, and Cacophony were not only still moving around the ocean together (we saw this same trio yesterday!) they were all resting. 

Trio of Humpback whales resting at the surface

With such minimal movements we could just sit there with our engines shut off giving us some incredible looks at the "small" calf and two adult whales. 

Valley and her calf (Valley has the rounded/almost lack of dorsal fin on her back)

Valley

Cacophony

All in all a wonderful day out on the water gazing at some incredible creatures.

Valley's calf waking up to poke its nose above the water

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September 15 Atlantic Queen

Another beautiful day out on the water on Sunday. We didn't have to travel very far to come across some whale activity. We first passed a small pod of harbor porpoise and a group of Northern gannets diving from the sky into the water in search of fish. It was a spectacular sight, and not one I see very often out in the Gulf of Maine.

We then traveled a little further past the Isles of Shoals and came across a pair of humpback whales. It was Pina and Victim logging at the surface for almost 40 minutes. Luckily Victim was more awake than our previous sighting that week, and passengers were able to see the markings on the underside of her tail and the missing section on her right fluke. Victim was also doing some tail rises under the surface. We were so close that you could see the fluke through the water!

Pina was just as active, and kept lifting her head just to the surface. She also had a few dives and showed her fluke pattern to passengers. In the midst of the sleeping whales we also saw a small pod of Atlantic white sided dolphins swimming by.

After spending time with the humpback whale pair we decided to head a little south in search of some fin whales. We did find a fin whale, but it wasn't spending much time at the surface and we had a report of another further south and decided to make our way over. On the way we passed three minke whales! So much activity on the water on Sunday. WE finally came across a fin whale who gave us some great looks before heading back into Rye Harbor.

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September 17 Granite State

What started off as a pretty wet and wild ride turned into an awesome day. We left the harbor, expecting the forecast to hold true and that the wind would rapidly diminish, but as we took wave after wave over the bow, we realized that wasn't going to be the case. Luckily our group of students from Vermont was flexible and we were able to duck into calm Gosport Harbor at the Isles of Shoals for lunch and a respite (and some education).  After a bit, the seas did appear to calm so we headed back out in search of whales.

In no time at all we spotted our first blow. Then a second blow! We found two humpback whales who were spending a lot of time riding the roller coaster of waves- just laying at the surface and taking relatively short dives!

This pair was Victim and Pina once again! The waves seemed to play a part in their diving behavior as sometimes they would disappear without any sign of diving, while other times they would raise their flukes really high out of the water!

Such a great day with a great bunch of students. Thanks for all the great, insightful questions and the hearty, sea-loving attitudes!


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September 16 Captain's Lady

In spite of a few sprinkles as we were boarding, we ended up with a very nice pelagic bird and whale watch. We left the Merrimack River and passed by several harbor seals on the way. Near the ledge, we slowed down for a tuna fleet and found a shy minke whale, and a fin whale on a mission. We didn't spend much time with these less-than-cooperative whales and instead, continued on. We got to the area where whales had been seen just yesterday but it seems the whale decided to move on. Soon we got a call from some other whale seekers in the area and headed down to check out the fin whales they had found.

To our surprise, we found Dingle hanging out with a yet-to-be-ID'ed whale along with a pod of Atlantic white sided dolphins!  We got some amazing looks at these huge whales while the dolphins were playing around near them.

Dingle, the fin whale

Dingle's unique markings

Dingle with dolphins

Dingle's head with dolphins off his nose!

At one point, Dingle seemed to be annoyed with the dolphins and rolled over in a big splash, showing us his flukes and flipper!

Dingle's flipper

Part of Dingle's fluke as he rolled at the surface

Then a 3rd fin whale showed up- this on has been identified as #9619, a whale first seen by Blue Ocean staff in 1996 and has only otherwise been seen in 2009!

Fin whale #9619

During the trip, when the first whale swam directly at the boat,  I mentioned that the whale certainly knew we were there as they have excellent hearing abilities. A passenger asked me what the whales were listening for. I mentioned that in addition to listening for ships and other whales (whose sounds can travel over 1000 miles underwater), they were also listening for the sounds of fish- herring in particular. Our curious passenger seemed surprised that herring make noise, so I just had to tell her of an article I had read about the sounds of herring- they "fart" to communicate and the whales can hear it!  Check out this link if you have time and want to learn about the intricacies of fish talk! http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/11/1110_031110_herringfarts.html

The pelagic birds were a bit sparse today but we did get many looks at northern gannets! Also we saw 2 common loons, a great shearwater, a juvenile laughing gull and a surprising look at a whimbrel!

Additionally, 2 eagles were spotted along the shore as we headed up river along with  several more harbor seals.

Pile of harbor seals!

Great day on the water and thanks again for joining us!

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September 14 Atlantic Queen

It was great to be back out on the water. It was a beautiful early fall day, and a great day for whale watching! We didn't have to travel very far before we had our first sighting. We passed a few small pods of harbor porpoise before reaching a pair of sleepy humpback whales. The pair was Patches and Victim who have been seen in the area for the past few days. The pair was logging--sleeping. Whales are conscious breathers meaning they have to think about breathing. If they slept like humans, they would forget to breathe. Therefor they can shut off half of their brains to sleep while the other half remembers to breathe. They look much like a log on the surface which is why the behavior is called logging.

Despite the sleeping whales, we had some wonderful looks at the pair. We also saw a fluke out in the distance.

In addition to the humpback whales, we had a pair of fin whales in the area. And a minke whale coming in and out of the area. It was great to see so many whales in one area. Thank you for everyone who joined us. We hope to see you again soon!

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September 14 Granite State

It was another day full of life on Jeffreys Ledge today. While we did encounter a good swell as we ventured offshore we also had almost no wind to speak of and great visibility for miles all around us. We had great conditions for whale spotting and spot whales we did! We first made our way to some splashing in the distance. It was a group of Atlantic white-sided dolphins. We eased our way into the area only to suddenly see one, wait, two large bodies emerge from the depths of the ocean. Two Humpback whales were right in the middle of the dolphins! 

A 6-8ft Atlantic white-sided dolphin swims next to a 40-50ft Humpback whale

Humpback whales and dolphins on the move

To make things even more fun it was our familiar pair of Humpback whales side by side again today. Patches and Victim were still in the area! 

Patches



Victim

What an incredible treat to see two large Humpback whales surrounded by a group of smaller toothed-whales. 

Patches off on a deeper dive while a few Atlantic white-sided dolphins swim close by

Dolphins catching up to Victim at the surface

The Humpback whales themselves were once again being extremely mellow, napping for most of the time we spent watching them today. 

Another nice day seeing Patches and Victim in our area

Dolphins would dart all around Patches and Victim which would remain quite stationary on the water's edge, a very good indication the pair was getting some rest. Out of the blue Patches rolled on its side a few times bringing one of its large white flippers into the air. 

Patches on its side with flipper high in the air as Victim swims at the surface

At one point Patches even rolled completely on its back with both flippers above the waterline and we literally watched Patches' flipper land on top of Victim's back! The whales were so close that when Patches' went to flop its flipper down the only place it could go was on to Victim! Apparently Victim wasn't too concerned for from our vantage point this whale barely did anything different than remain napping on the surface. Not quite the reaction you might expect when a 1-ton flipper lands on you! 

Patches "belly up" with its flippers in the air

These whales are so close to each other! (Patches flipper and Victim's back)

With some great looks at these relaxed whales which a few times slowly swam towards, under, and next to the boat(!), we eased our way out of the area and ventured on. 

The view through the pilothouse window as our pair swims literally just in front of the boat! (The engines had been shut off for some time before this so no worries!)

The trip wasn't over for we also got a quick look at a few Minke whales before seeing a Fin whale! While two Fin whales were in the area we ended up spending time with one circling around. 

Fin whale spout

To our amazement it was a very familiar whale. Comet had returned back to Jeffreys Ledge! We last saw this whale on July 27.

The part of a Fin whale usually not seen at the surface. The majority of Comet's tailstock and even part of its tail is visible above the ocean's surface!

It has been well over a month since last seeing this whale in the area so we were thrilled to see this whale again this season! What a great way to end our already enjoyable day out with wildlife.

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