June 24, Captain's Lady III

What a scorcher of a day! I'd like to say that it was much cooler on the ocean, but really, it wasn't all that different than on land!

We left Newburyport around 10AM and headed out in search of whales. The seas were calm and visibility was really good. Thanks to eagle-eye Amy, we found our first whale just before getting to Jeffreys Ledge. This was a very nice minke whale who surfaced several times nearby. We ended up seeing 6 different minke whales during the course of the trip, but this first one was the best!

Minke whale

We headed out and decided to pass by a whale that already had a couple of boats watching it. We like to give our whales as much space as possible and really hate to have more than two boats on any whale. We continued a few more miles out and found Pinball, a humpback whale who has been spending some time in the area lately.

Pinball diving towards the boat

 Pinball was great- she blew a few clouds of bubbles (used to concentrate the schools of fish) and was taking short dives and not moving far. She was also spending a fair amount of time on the surface and swimming near our boat several times.

Pinball's unique flukes

 Here you can see her large flipper "glowing" green next to her. The flipper is really white but looks green because of all the plankton in the water.

Check out those huge blowholes!

After leaving Pinball, we went searching for the whale we passed by earlier but it was no where to be found. Whales can certainly pick up and move whenever they feel like it so likely that whales decided it was time to move on.

Thanks to all of our interested passengers today! We hope to see you out on another adventure with us and the whales!



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June 23 Granite State

It was a very nice day on the water for we got the chance to see multiple species of whales today. We first spent some time with a Fin whale once we got to Jeffreys Ledge. This whale was on the move but only staying under the water for a few minutes at a time giving us the opportunity to get some nice looks at such a large animal. 

Fin whales are such massive animals!

Did you know Fin whales are the second largest animals in the world? Yep, they are. We were even fortunate enough to learn this whale is a familiar whale to us. It was #9709! This whale has been seen on Jeffreys Ledge in the past and to see her back in the area for another feeding season it like seeing an old friend return home. What a nice surprise.

Fin whale #9709

We then headed to where Satula had been reported to be. This whale was once again circling around and left a poop cloud at the surface almost eveyr time it went for a dive. Certainly seems like Satula is having a grand ol' time staying put and eating for this whale hasn't really moved from its location for days now! As long as the food is there looks like Satula sees no reason to leave for this whale continues to enjoy its whale-food buffet!


Satula

As we headed for home after spending some time with Satula we came across two Minke whales charging around. And boy were they charging! These whales were seen in the first place because one of the Minke whales basically porpoised out of the water! These two whales were maybe chasing food or perhaps charging around each other. Unfortunately we only see such a small snippet into the lives of whales for we only see what their behaviors are above the surface as we completely are left in the dark as to what any whale is doing under the water. Regardless, these two whales were great animals to spend some time with as they created so much white water each time they surfaced.

Nice looks at multiple species of whales certainly made for another nice day out on Jeffreys Ledge.

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June 23, Captain's Lady III

Great day to escape the heat! Both trips brought us great looks at two whales.

During our morning trip, we found Satula the humpback whale again. He was moving around a bit but surfaced close by a few times. Satula has been our "resident whale" since mid-May.

Satula- check out his "tubercles"

Satula diving

Satula- check out this close up of the barnacles on his fluke!

 We ventured on to find a very nice fin whale just a few miles from Satula. We haven't seen a fin whale on the Captain's Lady III since May 19, so this lady was a lovely sight! Fin whales are my favorite species of whale so I was beyond excited. Eventually, after some analyzing of our photos, we ID'ed this fin whale as #9709, a female first seen in 1997! We know she is female since was seen with a calf in 2007.

Fin whale spouting

Fin whale #9709's chevron

Fin whale #9709's dorsal fin

 At one point, as we waited for her to resurface, she surprised us  by popping up right next to us!! This is a behavior 9709 is known for!! Very glad to see this whale back in the area!

Our afternoon trip was also fantastic. We relocated Satula, the humpback again:

Satula

 But we were unable to find fin whale #9709. Instead, we saw Pinball, another humpback whale! Pinball was very mellow and easy to get close looks at since she repeated surfaced near us while we sat idle. Pinball is a 24 year old humpback who has had 7 calves that we know of.

Pinball's unique fluke

Pinball diving off our bow after checking out our boat!

Our interns hard at work recording each and every spout!

Such a fantastic day! We hope to see you out here with us soon!


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June 22 Atlantic Queen

Another beautiful day out at Jeffreys Ledge. The seas were calm and the wind was just right for a comfortable ride out to sea. We went back to the southern end of Jeffreys Ledge yesterday. Seems like our whales have been hanging around that area more than they have in years past. I still think it's amazing to whale watch and see Cape Ann in the not too far distance. Despite being close to land, we were still 24 miles from Rye Harbor.

Yesterday we came across Pinball, the humpback whale. Pinball is a female humpback who had her sixth calf in 2012. She has a beautiful spotted tail which is how she gets her name. We stayed with Pinball for a while watching her come to the surface for a few breaths before taking a deeper dive.

She was also blowing a few bubble clouds as well, indicating that she was feeding in the area. Humpback whales will blow bubbles under the surface in order to corral fish into a tighter ball. In some cases humpback whales will blow an entire net of bubbles. It was so nice spending the day with Pinball.

Thank you for everyone who came out with us. We hope to see you again soon!

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June 22 Granite State

This morning we decided to once again chance our luck and head to different areas of Jeffreys Ledge to check out if other whales were swimming around. On our trip out to the ledge we ended up seeing a total of 6 Minke whales. Half of these whales were swimming around on their own but we did have an area where we had 3 close by. They kept surfacing in all directions around the boat so no matter where you were a Minke whale could be seen! It's fun when you have the whales circling around you while you just sit there and watch.

One of the multiple Minke whales seen today!

Once we got to Jeffreys we searched and searched and searched some more. We were running out of time for any more exploration in the offshore waters and decided to start heading in the direction where Satula had been yesterday. Except we never got to Satula. Instead we found and watched another very familiar whale, Pinball! It has been almost a week since the last time we saw her and were very excited to see her circling around.

Pinball (above and below)

This afternoon we also got the chance to spend more time with Pinball. She was on the move for a while but then did a complete 180 and started swimming back towards from where she came from! Soon she started to circle about, created a few bubble clouds and got some great looks at her.  On the way home we had an extra surprise as we briefly saw a Basking shark. Though this shark (the second largest species of shark in the world!) wasn't at the surface for long everyone jumped to their feet to get a quick look at a shark's fin even for just a moment.


Welcome back to the area Pinball!

 
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June 21 Granite State

During both our trips today we got a chance to see 2 Minke whales and Satula the Humpback whale. This morning Satula was being quite sporadic in its surfacings. This whale would come up in one place and then show up in a completely different direction the next time. 

Satula

Even though this whale was being a bit unpredictable we were even more surprised when this whale suddenly tail breached! What a cool sight to see the back half of a whale's body suddenly be launched into the air and smack back down on the ocean! It occurred so quickly and unexpectedly that a photo couldn't even be captured to show everyone. Instead it was an awesome sight to see with the naked eye and a surprise to us all.

This afternoon Satula was working some food in the area for not only was this whale constantly leaving brown clouds at the surface (more whale poop!) but was once again creating plenty of bubble clouds around the area. 

One of the many bubble clouds seen this afternoon as Satula takes a breath of air in the distance

A few time this whale even surfaced as it was filtering out lots of salt water through all those baleen plates in its mouth! Happy Solstice everyone!


Satula

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June 20 Granite State

The wind was pretty much non-existent this morning, and for that matter just barely blowing this afternoon, providing another gorgeous day out on the water as we ventured towards Jeffreys Ledge today. This morning we had an unexpected surprise when we spotted a whale before even getting to Jeffreys Ledge. A Fin whale was moving around the area. A few time this whale even flicked its tail above the surface, probably beginning to roll on its side, as it made its way through the water today.

Dorsal fin (left) and tip of the tail (right) as this Fin whale moves through the water

Before leaving we even became aware as to who this was in the first place. Dingle the Fin whale was only miles from land!  This whale was first seen in 2003 and Blue Ocean Society affiliates have seen this whale almost every year since then here on Jeffreys Ledge! What a great way to start out the day with such a familiar fin so close to home.

Hello Dingle!

Close up of Dingle's dorsal fin

We next came across Satula the Humpback whale. Once again this whale was circling around the area, creating bubble clouds, and even a few more brown clouds at the surface for people to see. Whale poop is always fun to see at any time of the day!  

Satula and some brown defecation

After spending most of our time watching this whale with the engine shut as it circled around us giving us the chance to listen to this whale exhale AND inhale (a sound that is amazing to hear if the opportunity arises!) and getting some incredible looks we eased our way out of the area to continue searching for more marine life.

Satula with a bit of disturbance in the background. Satula's remnants of a bubble cloud was rising to the surface where this whale had just been at the surface minutes ago

Our next sighting wasn't a whale, but instead a fish. It was an Ocean sunfish. We got some really nice looks as this critter swam along at the surface. What perfect conditions for checking out such an interesting looking creature!

Hello Ocean sunfish!

Before getting home we also spent some time with a Minke whale on the move. What a nice variety of life to see out on the ledge this morning.

Minke whale

This afternoon we attempted to relocate Dingle but this whale appeared to have moved away from the area so we headed back towards where Satula had been this morning. On our way we ended up spending time with two Minke whales moving around. Both whales were swimming in big circles and showing up on either side of the boat for our passengers to see. 

One of the Minke whales spotted this afternoon

Satula wasn't too far away and seeing that the other whale watching boats had left the whale we decided to ease our way into the area and spend some time with this other species. Satula certainly did a great job giving everyone a good look at it. A few times this whale returned to the surface right next to the boat, surprising everyone for a moment! 

Satula alongside us

Satula

Once again we were lucky enough to sit there with our engines shut off watching Satula create more bubble clouds and swim circles around us.

Thanks to Satula for allowing for some incredible looks at this whale today as we sat floating on ocean watching in awe the ease in which these animals move through the water. And of course to all the other marine life seen today for it was another good day on Jeffreys Ledge indeed!

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