These reports and images are provided with permission by Jennifer Hafner and Dianne Schulte, former interns of the Whale Center Of New England, now of the Blue Ocean Society, who also work as a naturalists for the Isle of Shoals Steamship Co. and Newburyport Whale Watch and as contributing researchers, providing field data to the Whale Center Of New England. Contact them with further inquiries.

October 2, 2004: Whales continue to be fairly plentiful in the Jeffreys Ledge area. Today there were several humpbacks around, plus a fin whale. Our affiliates on the M/V Granite State report that there were also multiple humpbacks, finbacks and minkes over the week! We only have a couple trips left, so join us now before we're done for the season!

September 25, 2004: Sightings were great again today - there were several fin whales inshore of the Ledge, along with a few humpbacks, minkes and a small pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins.

September 24, 2004: Due to weather and our reduced fall schedule, we haven't been out much lately, but when we have, it's been great! We joined Newburyport Whale Watch for their pelagic bird trip on 9/20, and there were many whales in the area along with a variety of bird species (Wilson's storm petrels, manx shearwaters, northern gannets, common terns, and even a juvenile puffin and a peregrine falcon!) and an ocean sunfish. Our naturalists were also out on the Granite State and Prince of Whales during the week and saw several finbacks, humpbacks and minkes. Today there was one young humpback feeding in the area, plus several fin whales. Whale watchers on the Atlantic Queen were treated to the sight of a fin whale mother and calf feeding.

September 12, 2004: September is usually a great time for whale watching, and this year is no exception so far. There were several fin whales in the area today, and we got terrific looks at one finback that had obviously been feeding recently. We also had a hungry humpback in the area, that was coming up to the surface with its mouth full of food. It was great to get such wonderful looks at two endangered species today!

September 6, 2004: We finished up our full-time season with nice looks at a couple finbacks throughout the day. We are looking forward to whale watching in the fall, which traditionally has been a time of good sightings.

September 2, 2004: We've continued to see a variety of species. Today we got terrific looks at a finback whale just south of the Isles of Shoals, along with a quick glimpse of a minke whale. We also saw the same finback on August 28 in about the same spot! On Monday, we saw a very sleepy humpback whale who spent the majority of the time "logging" (resting) near the water surface. Occasionally this whale poked its head up (see picture above, the bright green is the whale's white flipper underwater!), almost as if it was wondering if it was still being watched!

August 26, 2004: Sightings continue to be good. Today we traveled down to southern Jeffreys Ledge/northern Stellwagen Bank where there were a few humpback whales in the area. We spent time with humpbacks who were deep feeding, often coming up to the surface with their throats full of food! Even though we had to travel far, we were rewarded with great looks at a humpback that didn't move far from one spot throughout the 30 minutes or so we were watching it.

August 23, 2004: We've continued to have several finback and minke whales in the area, with humpbacks scattered throughout the trips. We've also been seeing Atlantic white-sided dolphins a few times each week. Today we saw a 4-year old humpback named "Beanie" who breached twice right in front of the boat! We were very lucky to witness this rare sighting. We also saw a pair of big (70 feet or so) fin whales on our way home!

August 18, 2004: We continue to have great sightings. Over the past few days, humpbacks have moved into southern Jeffrey's. Yesterday we saw three different humpback whales, and today we had several humpbacks and finbacks sighted by our affiliate boats. A promising thing is that several different humpbacks were sighted between the last two days, which is more than the few individuals we've sighted this whole season so far! We have not identified all of the humpbacks yet, but know one whale is "Geometry", a whale born in 1997. Stay tuned... if we identify the whales sighted after going through our catalogs, we'll post them here!

August 16, 2004: Sightings have been great over the past week. On Saturday, we had an influx of Sei whales, a whale similar to the fin whale, but not often seen in our area. One thing distinctive about these whales is their sickle-shaped dorsal fin. Sunday's weather kept us at the dock, but today we saw several species - the Prince of Whales saw several fin whales and a humpback on their morning trip, and this afternoon the Atlantic Queen and Granite State were thrilled to find 4 species near the ledge, which included a small pod of about 25 Atlantic white-sided dolphins, a minke whale, a huge finback whale and another Sei whale!

August 10, 2004: While there seemed to be several fin whales around yesterday, they were fairly scarce today. We did get a good look at one finback whale. However, our naturalists were thrilled by seeing a terrific pod of dolphins - one of the most active pods we've seen in several years! The pod seemed to be comprised of mostly females and their calves, but there seemed to be a few acrobatic males present. There were about 150-200 dolphins in the pod, and they spent most of the time cruising near the bow and stern of the boat, leaping several feet in the air, and engaging in cool feeding behaviors! It is unbelievable that some passengers argue that these toothed whales "don't count" as a sighting on a whale watch! This was one of the most exciting encounters of the past two weeks!

August 8, 2004: Over the past couple days, finbacks have been more plentiful, and we've also spent time with a humpback known as "Tulip". Tulip is a female who was first sighted in 1988. Yesterday Tulip actually breached several times, a very rare sighting!

August 4, 2004: Minke whales continue to be plentiful, with several sightings today. The larger finbacks and humpbacks have been a bit scarce lately, but hopefully they will return to the Ledge soon!

August 3, 2004: Minke whales and Atlantic White-sided dolphins have been plentiful over the past two days. We spent some time today with a great dolphin pod comprised of about 50 dolphins, including many tiny calves! Over the past week, Satula the humpback was sighted a few days in a row.

July 26, 2004: Lately we've been sighting minke whales near the Isles of Shoals and fin whales further offshore on southern Jeffreys Ledge. Yesterday passengers on the Atlantic Queen saw a humpback whale along with several minke whales.

July 12, 2004: Finback and minke whales have continued to be fairly plentiful inshore of Jeffreys Ledge. Yesterday our naturalist on the Prince of Whales was lucky enough to see several finbacks and minkes, plus a right whale and her calf!

Today we were delighted to see two very familiar humpback whales, Satula, a male first seen in our area in 1988, and Pinball, a female first seen as a calf in 1989. There were also several minkes in the area, a small pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins, and finback whales inshore!

June 27, 2004: Sightings have been good this weekend - today we saw several fin whales, a few minkes, and a pod of about 50-75 Atlantic white-sided dolphins on the Atlantic Queen. The Prince of Whales reported sightings of fin whales and a large basking shark.

June 24, 2004: While sightings were a bit slow over the past 10 days, they seem to have picked up yesterday. We saw several fin whales (including a mother/calf pair) and about 15 dolphins about 15 miles from Rye Harbor yesterday. We had very clear, calm seas, and could see the dolphins swimming even when they were several feet underwater! The pod of dolphins also spent most of their time swimming around the fin whale, and even leaping over it a couple times!

June 14, 2004: We've had some rough seas over the past couple days, but had good sightings over the weekend. We had several fin whales near Jeffreys Ledge, and large dolphin pods over the weekend. We were also treated to a sight of a basking shark fromthe Granite State, and the extremely rare sighting of a beluga whale! This whale has been around Massachusetts for the past month or so, and was up in the Jeffreys Ledge area over the weekend. Belugas are normally found much further north, in Canada, and in pods, so this sighting is extremely unusual.

June 5, 2004: Our whale watch season has started! Although we've had several trips canceled due to weather, we've had great sightings on the trips that have gone out. Yesterday, passengers on the Atlantic Queen and Prince of Whales were treated to sightings of a large pod (100-300) Atlantic white-sided dolphins and 3-4 finback whales. Over the past couple weeks we have had regular sightings of finbacks, minkes and dolphins, and a few humpback whales. Join us soon!