July 24, Granite State

Today's morning trip was a bit rough to start- both in terms of the sea state and the whales. We were getting a little bounced around on our way out and then saw a whale but couldn't get better looks at it.  Fortunately, the ocean and whale gods decided to cooperate and we ended up with a nice trip. An ocean sunfish popped up near us and we were able to see this large fish quite well. It cooperated nicely and after a few viewings, we continued on to a report of other minke whales nearby.

Ocean Sunfish just below the surface

 One whale was a favorite of ours, "scar minke". This whale has a large scar, likely caused from being hit by a boat, in front if its dorsal fin.

Minke nose

"Scar Minke"'s forward scar

"Scar Minke"'s prominent scar

"Scar Minke" was first documented in 1995 and had that healed scar back then...so we really don't know how old this whales is but it is likely well over 20 years old! A second minke was in the area near this one but we only got a couple of quick looks at it.

Our return trip brought a third that we passed by on our way home to Rye.

By the afternoon trip, the seas had calmed dramatically, making whale spotting much easier. We started out by seeing an ocean sunfish amidst the Isles of Shoals! This sunfish was very cooperative and was spending its afternoon just lazing at the surface, basking in the sun.  Not far from the Shoals, we saw our first whale- a minke whale! We got a brief look at it, and then it decided it had better things to do and we never saw it again. We continued on. A report came over the radio of a large fin whale in the area so we headed there. In that area, we saw 2 minke whales briefly and the fin whale once but then as soon as these whales were seen, they also disappeared. It still baffles me how a 70-ton animal can vanish. But that was the case today.

Fin Whale

Even though we only got a quick look at this fin whale, we could still tell that it was whale #0932- a fin whale first seen by Blue Ocean Society staff in 2009.   We kept going and found a small pod of harbor porpoises that were less than social and disappeared almost as soon as we pointed them out. Eventually we worked our way out to where we had a minke in the morning and to our surprise we saw "Scar Minke" again! This whale has been fantastic lately, surfacing frequently and close to the boat, with its pointed nose poking out!

Minke Whale nose again!

"Scar Minke"'s left side

Soon after "Scar Minke" (who really needs a better name) we found a pod of Atlantic white sided dolphins! These animals were much more sociable than the porpoise we tried to view earlier and were splashing around at the surface quite a bit!

Dolphins

Soon, our time was up and we had to head back to Rye Harbor. But on the way home we found an area with 3 different minke whales!! What a great extra bonus to the trip! Thanks to everyone who joined us today and we hope to see you again soon!


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August 23 Atlantic Queen

What a gorgeous day on the water!  We had plenty of sightings - it seemed like the activity was non-stop from the time we left the dock!

Ocean sunfish

Harbor seal

We started out with a sighting of an ocean sunfish just outside the harbor.  Nearby, there were also a couple young harbor seals.  As we continued on, we were soon stopped by a pod of harbor porpoises, and then minke whale - one of about a dozen we saw throughout the trip!

Harbor porpoise

Harbor porpoise

In total, we saw two small pods of harbor porpoises, 4 harbor seals and about 12 minke whales - what a great trip!

Here are some minke whale photos:

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August 23, Captain's Lady III

We had beautiful conditions on the ocean for this morning's whale watch but unfortunately the whales were not as cooperative as the ocean. In our travels we did come across at least 4 different minke whales as well as a small harbor seal pup. Though we didn't get any good looks at the whale it was a great morning for a boat ride.

One of this morning's elusive minke whales

After our uncooperative whales this morning we decided to go in a different direction in the afternoon to Stellwagen Bank where we had some whale reports. Upon arriving to an area with a few whale watching boats we saw a spout. This spout belonged to a huge fin whale. The closer we got we started seeing some smaller whales in the area, Atlantic White Sided Dolphins! This small pod of dolphins was associated with the fin whale, traveling just ahead of the whale as it surfaced. 

Fin whale with a pod of dolphins

Seeing dolphins associated with a large fin whale is an amazing sight to see and a great opportunity to appreciate the size of the fin whale. As we watched this group of whales we got another surprise. A second fin whale showed up in the group! All of a sudden we had a group of about 10-15 dolphins and 2 fins whales all traveling together, what a sight!

Our two fin whales side by side

Atlantic White Sided Dolphins

Thanks to our passengers who braved the 30+ mile journey to Stellwagen for what turned out to be a great day of whale watching and a great day on the water. And congratulations to Janna S. from Portsmouth NH for winning our raffle today!

By Amy Warren, Naturalist

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August 22, Captain's Lady III

What a great day! Thanks to our colleagues on fishing and whale watching boats, we were given the heads-up that a huge fin whale was in the area today. We got to the area and slowed down, and it was our diligent passengers who spotted the whale first!! Although this whale was a little unpredictable, we still got some incredible views of it! By looking at the dorsal fin shape and incredibly bright chevron/blaze markings, we knew this was # 0282, an adult whale first seen in 2002, and most recently seen on July 17. Where has this whale been for the past month? We may never know.

Fin whale spout

Fin whale #0282's incredible markings

Fin whale #0282's triangular fin

 Also in the area of the fin whale were one or two minke whales. We got photos of one of them, and even though the photo is less than ideal (OK, a little blurry) we could tell the difference between this one and the minke whale we found on our way home.

Minke A (with notch near top of fin)

Minke B seen on our trip home (with notch near middle of fin)

 Such a beautiful day with a nice cool breeze offshore. On our way up the Merrimack River, we hit the heat from land, and also saw these crazy kids trying to race our 106-foot boat. They did a great job keeping up with us and probably  just missed whale watching- this was our crew from the last  13 years, Ryan and Jessie!

Ryan and Jessie, nearly outrunning the Lady III

We hope to see you all back out on the ocean with us soon!

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August 21 Atlantic Queen

We had a cool, calm day on the water and plenty of enthusiastic passengers! We spent time today with a few minke whales - we got close looks at two of them - and at one point, both of these minkes were right next to each other!

We also got some great looks at them right next to the boat several times.  One whale had some nicks on its dorsal fin, while the other had a slender, hooked fin. We can use these dorsal fin shapes to determine if we see these minkes in the future.

While there wasn't a large variety of birds, we did see lots of northern gannets, especially adults. We've seen a lot of adult northern gannets this summer (normally, juveniles are more plentiful). The adults can be identified by their brilliant white and black plumage (juveniles are a mottled brown and white).

Thanks to everyone who joined us for another great day on the water!

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August 21, Captain's Lady III

Glassy calm seas today! We had our first sighting just 10 minutes outside of the River today! Harbor porpoises were popping up in a group of about 10-12. Although they were a bit shy, we managed to get some looks before moving on.

Harbor Porpoises

We passed by a second pod of porpoises and a harbor seal a little while later. Then, just as we were receiving a report of whales nearby, we spotted the tell-tale sign of an ocean sunfish (scientific name Mola mola)- the slow flopping back and forth of its large fin. We moved in slowly and were able to spend about 10 minutes with this fish- the largest species of bony fish! At one point it swam right up to the boat! They look a bit odd, but ocean sunfish are pretty cool fish.

Our first ocean sunfish

As we searched for the reported whales in the area, a harbor seal pup showed up. This little one was playing with something- possibly the remains of a fish, and kept it's distance.

We kept searching, hoping the fishing boats were right- that there were whales in the area....waiting....waiting....
Then a minke whale surfaced not too far away! As we got closer, we saw that there were actually 2 minke whales in the area!! The first minke had a smooth dorsal fin and small marking just behind the fin. This will be useful in cataloging this whale in the future! We got incredible looks at these whales. The water was so calm, we could easily see the minke "mittens" as the whale surfaced.

Minke A

Minke A

 The second minke whale had a notch in its dorsal fin- can't wait to add this one to our catalog too! Check out the blowholes in the image below!

Minke B

Minke B

In the meantime, an unusual bird flew by and briefly tried to land on the boat. According to our PhD Ornithologist, Dr. Larson from Mass Audubon, this was a female or immature Red-winged Blackbird! Definitely not a pelagic species, but fun to see offshore! Hope it makes it back to dry land soon!

Red-winged Blackbird!

As we waited for one of the minkes to surface again, we spotted another ocean sunfish.

Second ocean sunfish

 This large fish seemed to enjoy people watching as it hung out under our bow pulpit for quite some time!  Also during its visit with us, it came very close to some marine debris- a Cheetos bag. Marine debris is extremely hazardous to all forms of marine life. They often mistake debris for food, and that can eventually kill them.This was particularly scary for an ocean sunfish that primarily feeds on jellyfish. Plastic bags can easily look like jellies and be mistaken for food. Fortunately, this sunfish was smart enough to know the difference and did not try to eat it.  Please keep this as a reminder to always take care of your trash in a responsible way. We most certainly don't want to cause more distress to our beloved marine life!

Ocean Sunfish precariously close to a Cheetos bag.

On our way home, we received a report of a dolphin in the area. This was a single Atlantic white sided dolphin. This solitary one was a bit wiggly and we weren't able to get photos. Typically, dolphins travel in family pods made up of related females and their young, but the adult males are known to venture off on their own, or with other males so perhaps this was a male taking some time away from the groups.

Today was a lovely day on the ocean. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!


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Granite State, Tuesday, August 20th

As we left the harbor, we actually saw a harbor seal and a few harbor porpoise on our way to the Isles of Shoals.  Soon after passing the Islands, we came upon our first whale of the day, a Minke whale.  As we stopped to try and get some looks at our first whale, we noticed that this whale was not surfacing in a normal fashion.  Minke whales are known as the "little piked whales," because their pointed snout will usually break the surface completely before arching to take a breath and this whale was not surfacing that way.  In fact, we could never really see in front of the whale's blowholes real well and that concerned us.  A few days ago, our associates from the Atlantic Queen II had spotted an entangled minke whale that had yellow line going across it's rostrum (top part of whales mouth in front of the blowholes).  They however never saw any trailing line.  We started wondering if this was the same whale that they had had just a few days earlier.  It would only surface for 2 breaths at a time and wouldn't surface normally.  We informed all our passengers on board about the situation at hand and that we needed to try and get as much documentation on this whale as possible.  We matched photographs of this whale's dorsal fin with photos from the whale seen on saturday and we were 99% sure that it was the same whale.  After close to 45 minutes of following this whale and by photographing it as much as possible, it was determined that this whale appeared to be gear free. How this whale was able to free itself, no one knows, but there was no further evidence of line around the mouth or any trailing line noticed during our time watching it.  There may be a small indentation in the top of the whales mouth, but that is still unclear.   The Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies (PCCS) are in charge of disentangling any whales in the NE and we were able to get in contact with them regarding this whale.  We were happy to know that this whale did not appear to have any gear on its body, but it is important to still document its current and future condition.  The whale's skin color was lighter than it should be, which can be a sign of illness, but it still has a great chance of surviving the unfortunate human interaction like a fish gear entanglement.  We will certainly be on the lookout for this whale on future whale watches and will try to keep everyone posted on its progress if seen again.

Throughout the remainder of the morning we were able to see 10 different Minke whales, 2 pods of harbor porpoise and even a blue shark during our travels.

Before heading home, we stopped at Boon Island and saw a few Harbor seals along with a large colony of Gray seals simply basking in the sun and taking a break from a mid morning meal.

In the afternoon, we decided to stop at Boon Island first to see if the seals were still around and were they ever!  The majority were gray seals and they were really enjoying the sun and we were able to get great views!

Once we left Boon Island, we travelled about 2-3 miles and saw our first whale of the afternoon, a Minke whale.  Well it didn't take long to realize that we didn't have 1 or 2 whales with us, we had 5 minke whales circling around the boat and no matter where you looked there was a whale.  They were all taking relatively short dives and spending a great deal of time at the surface.  With close approaches by several of them, it was such a nice way to spend the afternoon.

We then got word of different whale activity about 10 miles from our location with all the Minke whales that we had and since there was the potential of seeing a different species and we had time to explore, we figured we would give it a shot.  As we got closer and closer to the other area, we were not having any luck relocating the activity that had been there not long ago.  When searching for wild animals, there is never a guarantee of what one light find and we started running short on time.

As we turned for home, we found another minke whale to spend time with and when we stopped, our eagle-eyed captain spotted lots of splashing about a mile away from where we were.  We had dolphins in the area and that was the exact sighting we had been looking for earlier in the afternoon.  There was a pod of about 30-40 Atlantic white-sided dolphins swimming all around us and it was a great way to end the trip and our day as a whole.  A big thank you to all our passengers who joined us today, and a special thank you to our morning crowd for your patience and assistance with keeping track or our once entangled minke whale.

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