On a balmy July morning, when the puffins buzzed over swelling, kelp-strewn waves, Jessica the whale slipped through Witless Bay with her trademark calm, making even the sea itself seem to pause and watch.

Jessica became a familiar shadow beneath the summer sun of Newfoundland and Labrador—her first recorded visit was in late July 2004. The locals would’ve agreed: when Jessica arrived, the air felt brighter, the salt spray sparkled, and the days grew just a touch more magical. Year after year, she kept turning up in Witless Bay, nearly always around midsummer. By 2007 and again in 2008, there she was—reliable as the call of a loon, rolling beside chattering gulls and darting capelin.

With 2010’s visit, it seemed Jessica was a resident fixture in the bay’s watery lanes. But then, just as suddenly, the records fell quiet. Ten summers drifted past, and her silvery spout vanished from local memory. That is, until August 2020, when a lucky sighting at Cape Bonavista sent a ripple through the community—Jessica was back, hale and hearty, exploring northern seas once more.

Perhaps spurred by wanderlust or the whims of the current, Jessica turned up again in 2026, this time off St. Lunaire-Griquet. It’s a far stretch from her southern haunts, but that’s what keeps her story so lively—the sheer wonder of where she’ll go next.