September 25 Granite State

The cooler temperatures today certainly reminded us that Fall has officially arrived. While the air was cool and crisp the seas were calm and the area was once again filled with life. Among the 5 Minke whales spotted throughout our travels today we also spent some quality time with three different pairs of Humpback whales. Each pair of whales provided its own excitement for the day for if you continue you will soon see why...

Our first pair of the day were Cacophony and a new visitor to Jeffreys Ledge this season: Nile! Nile spent a lot (and I mean a lot!) of time further south of us this summer before she disappeared from every one's eyesight for a while. Low and behold she has turned up near us! 

Nile and Cacophony

Nile spent some time on Jeffreys Ledge last year but had yet to come visit the area until now. What a great surprise!

Nile

Looks like she also decided to follow suit with many of the other whales we have been seeing recently for she, as well as Cacophony too, spent most of their time napping at the surface. 

Nile and Cacophony's tail

With the whales barely moving through the area we were able to get some great looks before allowing them to continue on with their day as we headed on to investigate another spout we saw in the distance.

Turns out there was another pair of Humpback whales in the area. Only instead of them being two adults like we spent time with earlier, it was Valley and her calf! 

Valley

Valley's large body while her calf's "tiny" body is visible close by Mom

These two whales were mostly nursing but also took some time to nap along the water's edge. Valley even left a red cloud on the surface (whale poop!) for us to watch dissipate as this mother and her 1+ ton calf swam through the area. 

Valley and her calf (Mom's body and the calf's head)

Valley's "big wings." Her large flippers (light patches seen extending out from her body) are flared out as she gets ready to go on a deeper dive

With a bit more time on the water we decided to leave our current pair and check out a few more spouts our eagle-eyed crew had spotted out in the distance. Little did we know what we were about to find out.

Two more Humpback whales were nearby but their dorsal fins weren't recognizable with some of our recent visitors to the area. It wasn't until we saw their flukes (and did some searching through our catalog) did we discover just who these two whales were. Ditto and Touchdown were around Jeffreys Ledge!!! For most people these two whales are exciting enough as it is; aka. two more new visitors to the area this season. However it goes much, much, further than that. We on the Granite State love what we do (as our nerdy ocean-loving-selves typically portray on any given day) and these particular whales are true testaments to just that. Amazing moment #1 for the day: Touchdown was just seen by one of our crews members on September 6 off of Grand Manan Island in New Brunswick, Canada! Who can say they have seen the EXACT same whale...in two different countries...all in one month?!?!? 

Touchdown is certainly utilizing many of the productive feeding grounds in the Gulf of Maine this season!

What an amazing sighting! (And yes, I apologize for the complete nerd-factor coming to the forefront right now.) But seriously, a whale that hasn't been seen in our area for quite some time to suddenly make its presence known to the same set of eyes that had seen it all the way up in the Bay of Fundy just earlier this month? Incredible. And yet the incredibleness only continues. 

Ditto, the companion seen with Touchdown, shares its own amazing bit of information. This particular whale hasn't been seen on Jeffreys Ledge since 1994!! That's 19 YEARS!!!!! And how do we know this?? Because one of our crew members has such a sponge of a memory for whale information that once a positive identity was determined for this whale, it was a complete flashback to years ago!

Welcome back to the area (just shy of 20 years!) Ditto!!!!

Can you imagine after so many years of watching whales out of the blue (literally!) a whale from years, and years, and years ago is once again swimming through the area?!?!? Incredible moment #2 of the day.

We like to try and show our passengers all that we can while out whale watching and while we try to pass along our excitement and awe of any whale we see sometimes even we are taken aback unexpectedly. Each trip holds its own moments and memories for all on board but it was an extra "hats off" kind of day to the hard-working crew with their unbelievable and unimaginable moments the whales provided them today.

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September 22 Captain's Lady III

Happy Autumnal Equinox! This morning's rain didn't scare everyone away so we headed out in search of whales amongst the seas and swells. Our first whale sighting was a fin whale- possibly #9619- although it was being a bit aloof and and not making it easy for us to get good looks. In the same area were a couple other fin whales and some minke whales! So we took a few looks at them as well. One of the fin whale was a bit more cooperative and stayed up for a dozen breaths giving us great views of its pretty chevron pattern behind the blowholes!

Fin whale chevron

Fin whale dorsal fin

Another fin whale!

Fin whale tall spout

 We spotted another spout in the distance so we headed over to check it out. This was a humpback whale named Cacophony! Cacophony was only staying up for a few breaths before diving but the underwater times were short so we got several great looks!

Cacophony's "noisy" flukes

Humpback dorsal fin

Going for a deep dive

Amongst the whales we also found a few harbor seals for a fun added bonus! Certainly a great way to spend the first day of fall!


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September 21 Atlantic Queen

Another great day on the water!  Well, it was a little bumpy, but sunny, and there was plenty to look at!

We got to see 4 humpbacks today. Especially exciting was spending time with Valley and her calf!  At first, the calf did some lobtailing and even a tail breach!

 

Valley

We then moved on to see Patches and Cacophony (sorry, I misidentified this pair on the first go-around!). They spent a fair amount of time at the surface, with Cacaphony doing lots of tail rises and a couple lower flukes.  Interestingly, Cacophony was seen with Valley around this time last year (see the post here: http://whalesightings.blogspot.com/2012/09/september-9-prince-of-whales.html).

Cacophony

Patches

We then went back to get some great looks at Valley and her calf - at one point, they fluked simultaneously. Sometimes calves never fluke, and to see one fluke at the same time as its mom was very special!

We then decided to check out one more area before we headed back to Rye, and were surrounded by 3 marine mammal species!  We first spotted a fin whale - Fjord! Fjord is one of our
adoptable whales and a frequent visitor to the area. It was difficult to get a good look at him, but we saw him a few times, along with blows from another fin whale in the area.

Fjord

Once while we were waiting for Fjord to resurface, a harbor seal popped up! As we were watching the seal, a minke whale cruised by!  We ended up seeing another minke and 2 more seals in that area.

Eventually, it was time to head home after another fun day on the water. Thanks to all who joined us!

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September 21 Granite State

The wind certainly did a good job making some wave action this afternoon. The extra rocking and rolling (and occasional spray; sorry to those of you who got a bit of salt water coming your way!) made for some extra excitement as we headed offshore today. Luckily whales, no matter what the conditions, still need to come to the surface to breath air and with plenty of whales around we had no problem getting some great looks at multiple species.

Our first whale of the day was a Fin whale. As this whale swam on through the area it wasn't until this animal went on a deeper dive were we excited to see who it was. Fjord was close by! This whale has such a distinctive dorsal fin and has been seen so many times over the years on Jeffreys Ledge it was another wonderful chance to capture this whale still swimming around the area. 

Fjord!

We ventured further offshore, stopped to check out a couple more Fin whales that were being a little more unpredictable in their movements, before coming across a pair of Humpback whales.

Humpback whale calf (left) and mom (right)

It was Valley and her calf. These whales are also still spending time around Jeffreys Ledge! Today we got the chance to watch the calf change its behaviors from nursing, to napping, and back again to more nursing. Basically pretty much what all young critters like to do!

Valley (foreground) and her calf swimming just past the boat!

Watching a mother and calf pair never gets old, and today was no exception, as seeing any young creature stay tight to and even try to catch up to mom is incredible even when it all happens in the water.

Valley's calf  holding its tail above the waterline as it awkwardly "wobbled" in the air for a few moments

Valley's tail

Trying to be just like Mom. Valley and her calf in the process of going on a deeper dive

During our time watching this Humpback whale pair we even saw a Minke whale pass on through the area. It was crashing through the waves as it was swimming against the wind making it much easier to keep track of this whale as it travelled on by us.

Minke whale

Before heading for home we went and checked out one other pair of whales not too far away. It was Patches and Cacophony the Humpback whales.

Patches

Looks like the associations have changed within the past 24hrs (as is very typical for baleen whales) as these two adult whales were now synchronizing their movements through the water together. What a nice way to end a nice day of whale watching.

Patches and Cacophony swimming side by side

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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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