Whale Watching Trip June 4, 2010

10 am Whale Watch Trip - Leah

The fog was a little to close for comfort today. Luckily it did clear out just in time for our whale watch to begin. We started our trip off with Nile, Tornado and a small whale, possibly a calf. These three were staying at the surface displaying a logging behavior, where they float at the surface and rest for a while.

After getting a few good looks at these individuals we moved onto a group of birds that were diving and feeding at the surface but there were no whales with them. The birds in this group were Wilson's storm petrel's, Northern gannet's, and some shearwaters. Great to see these birds offshore. After searching through the birds for a little while we moved onto another group of whales, that were also logging like the first group but also were occasionally rolling over onto there backs.

And we had a minke whale with us at the end of the trip. It was surfacing sporadically around the boat. Since the water was so calm today we could see the small white patch on the minke whales flipper very clearly. And then before we headed back to the dock we went and found the original three that we started the trip with and watched them for a little while again and then we went home.

10 am Whale Watch - Krill

We picked up a minke whale as we approached the SE corner of Stellwagen Bank. Minkes are the smallest of the baleen whales and are a no-nonsense whale. So after one quick look at this animal, we continued east.

The Tails of the Sea was reporting a trio of humpback whales that were logging or resting on the surface. As we approached the Tails, we saw the whales surface off the boat's starboard side. As the Tails drifted next to the whales, we got a chance to see just how big these animals are compared to the known length. The Tails of the Sea is 110 feet if you include the walkout bow sprint. Humpback adults are close to 45 feet in length so they are almost half the length of the Tails.

The Tails of the Sea moved on and we picked up their trio that included Nile, Tornado and a smallish whale, possibly a calf. All animals were logging at the surface providing wonderful views of these endangered animals. At one point, Tornado lifted her tail high in the air giving us a great look at the bottom (ventral) part of her tail which is primarily black. Nile also fluked out and we could see the vertical line on the left side of her fluke, the line for which she is named. This line forks at the bottom and looks like the Nile river.

We headed home happy and overjoyed to see such beautiful creatures. Having the chance to watch these endangered animals reminds us of how special our New England waters are. And it reminds us of the dangers of oil spills and other contaminants in our ocean environments.

So we encourage our readers to write your Congressman or Congresswoman as well as President Obama and his administration. More needs to be done to address the environmental disaster that is unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico. Your involvement can really make a difference.

Whale Watching Trip June 3, 2010

9 am Whale Watch Trip - Krill

Today we had Thayer Academy onboard with us. This is a fabulous group of kids, teachers and families who come each year to whale watch with Captain John Boats. The fog from yesterday was still with us as we headed out of Plymouth Harbor. At the outer harbor, just off Saquish, we say Northern gannets feeding in the shallow water off Saquish. Seeing gannets in Plymouth Harbor is unusual so it may for an exciting start to our trip offshore.

At times, visibility was reduced to 200 feet so we decided to head to the location where we had great sightings of humpback whales the day before. As we slowly moved through this area, we stopped a few times to listen for whales. Whales produce a loud, explosive sound when they return to the surface to breath. By listening for this exhalation, we can often find whales in the fog even if they are 1 to 2 miles downwind from us.

But today, we were not having any luck finding the whales. Then we received a call from the Dolphin Fleet about a small group of humpback whales just a few miles to the south. So we headed that way with high hopes as the visibility greatly improved.

As we approached the Dolphin Fleet vessel, they moved on to watch some of the other humpbacks in the area. We stayed with this small group which turned out to include 6 whales. We were able to ID Whisk and her calf of this year, Cajun and her calf of this year, Milkweed and Jabiru.

The adults seemed to be feeding deep and the calves were staying very close to mom 's side. A few times this group split up a bit, but they always managed to get back together. The calves were surfacing before the adults as they can not hold their breath as long during a deep dive. So we actually got a close look at the calves as they approached the boat waiting for mom to resurface.

We moved away from this pair and picked up a truly incredible sighting. We were thrilled to find Salt and her 12th calf just a bit north of our last sighting. I had heard that Salt had been sighted offshore with a new calf months ago, but I had not had a chance to see this wonderful pair. Salt is the most famous humpback whale in the world for she is the first humpback to receive a name. And Salt returns each year to feed off Cape Cod which allows us to follow her over the course of her life.

Salt has taught us many things about the life of a humpback whale including the fact that mom's take full responsibility of raising and nursing the young calf. And mom protects the calf against natural predators which include sharks and killer whales. Mom also takes full responsibility for feeding (nursing) the calf and providing much of its nutrition that first year of life. The demands on the mom are great and that is probably why Salt and the other humpback moms typically have a single calf every 2 to 3 years.

At the end of our trip, Salt and her new calf named Zelle came right over to the boat and gave us a close approach. What a thrill to see mom and calf so close to the boat. Salt is a very trusting mother who has become accustomed to the boats since she was first seen in 1976. I hope we can always honor that trust in what we do to protect our oceans and keep them clean. Salt and Zelle need our vigilance and so do the other marine wildlife that feed in our productive waters offshore.

Whale Watching Trip June 2, 2010

1400 Whale Watch Trip - Krill

We had a foggy ride offshore as we crossed over the southern part of Stellwagen Bank. Winds were picking up out of the SE making for a bumpy ride. As we approached another whale watching boat cloaked in the fog, we heard that they were watching a group of 5 humpbacks that included two mother and calf pairs. We were thrilled to pick up this group as the other whale watching vessel moved off.

As we watched this group move in and out of the fog, we noticed the that animals were spending a great deal of time at the surface as they socialized with one another. One larger humpback did a spy hop were the whale rises out of the water head first. A second whale spy hopped right alongside the first animal which seemed to get the calves more excited than before. Shortly after the spy hops, one calf jumped out of the water head first in a behavior called a chin breach.

Soon we realized that this large group had broken off and we found ourselves watching three humpbacks from the original group of five. This smaller group still included a mother and calf and we think the mom was Whisk. This group continued to be active as the calf did a few spinning head breaches, tail breach and then came over to our boat to give us a close approach.

As we watched this trio, we heard and then saw a few other humpbacks surface just at the edge of the fog. What a beautiful sight to watch these beautiful animals in the fog. Fog does make our job a bit harder as we try first to find the whales in reduced visibility and then try not to loose them once they are found. But fog is mysterious and provides an additional level of adventure of any whale watch.

Whale Watching Trip May 31, 2010

9 am and 2 pm Whale Watch Trips - Krill

As we headed offshore in the morning, we enjoyed fabulous weather on this Memorial Day. However, as the morning progressed, we noticed a smoky haze to the sky and a burning smell to the air around us. We then heard about the brush fires in Quebec and wondered how those communities were faring against the uncontrolled burning.

Our first sighting was a trio of resting (logging) humpback whales on the SW corner of Stellwagen Bank. Members of this trio took turns floating at the surface as the waves gently rolled onto their backs. When offshore, we were never able to identify these individuals for none of the animals dove deep enough to lift their flukes out of the water. But we have the images needed for our photo-ID analysis and will be working on their ID in the months to come.

A number of smaller boats came into our area to get a look at this resting trio. Unfortunately, some of the boats didn't realize that you should never approach resting whales quickly and you never from a head-on approach. The whales responded to these vessel maneuvers by waking up and diving deep. Most people do not intend to disturb the whales, they just want to watch them. But all whale watches, whether a commercial company or a recreational boater, needs to know the Whale Watch Guidelines created by the National Marine Fisheries Service and they need to have a good understanding of whale behavior.

Our second sighting was a special sighting of Perseid and her calf of this year. As we watched this mother and her baby, we noticed that the calf was also resting at the surface. Mom was probably resting as well, but she would disappear beneath the water's surface after each breath. Still a great view of a special pair who had been spotted on or near Stellwagen Bank quite a lot over the past few weeks.

During the afternoon trip, the winds picked up out of the SE and we headed to the eastern side of Stellwagen Bank for we had reports of feeding whales in that area. As we approached this area, we saw a huge splash in the distance and realized that the splash was caused by an active humpback whale.

This whale appeared to be young given its smallish size. As we approached this whale, it breached chin first in a behavior called chin breaching. Our NECWA intern Dominica counted the number of times this energetic whale performed a variety of active behaviors and the final count was 18 chin breaches, 34 spinning head breaches, 8 flipper slaps, 8 inverted lobtails, 3 regular lobtails and 6 fluke out dives. WOW!

At one point, this humpback did a spinning head breach right off the bow of our boat. Our captain had the vessel in neutral and we were drifting since the whale was close to us. But no one had imagined that this energetic individual would breach right off the bow of the boat. The passengers on the bow were quite surprised as the whale made a huge splash landing. This humpback continued to be very active as we finally moved away to continue our search offshore.

Our next sighting was a trio that included Perseid and her calf who were traveling with Pitcher. The calf was the most active member of this trio as it tailbreached and lobtailed at the surface. Mom and Pitcher were spending more time beneath the surface and when they came up for a breath, they were all business.

Our final sighting was another trio of humpback whales that once again included a mother and calf pair traveling with a third whale. This mother turned out to be Giraffe and her new calf of this year. Again the calf was the most active member of this trio as was also tailbreaching and lobtailing at the surface.

Something seemed to have gotten many of the humpbacks in this area riled up! But alas, it soon became time for us to leave these amazing animals and head home.

Whale Watching Trip May 29, 2010

9 am and 2 pm Whale Watch Trips - Fred

We had two excellent whale watches today. The day started mostly sunny, but it ended in showers, but we were on our way back to Plymouth on the second trip before the rain started, which we were grateful for.

On the AM trip we spent all of our time with four humpback whales, two different mother/calf pairs, that we identified as Compass and calf and Perseid and calf. However, what was most unusual about this trip was not evident until we had started back to port, when I was checking the catalog of Gulf of Maine humpback whales that we have on the boat, and I noticed that Compass (first seen in Massachusetts in 1984) had, in 1989, for her first of nine calves, a female named Palette, and that, in 1998, Perseid had been the first of Palette's own series of calves.

Therefore, we saw on just this one trip evidence of four generations of one humpback whale family: Compass would be the great-grandmother to Perseid's calf, Palette (whom we didn't actually see on this trip) would be its grandmother, and Perseid would (of course) be its mother. Furthermore, the calf we saw swimming alongside Compass on this trip would be a brother or sister to Palette, an aunt or uncle to Perseid, and a great-aunt or great-uncle to Perseid's calf. So all of the whales we saw on this trip are closely related genetically. Now what are the odds of this happening all in one whale watch?

On the PM trip we did see more whales than on the AM trip - several humpbacks (including Compass and her pup again) and one minke whale. However, the high point, I am sure, in the memories of all aboard, had to have been the close approach by just one whale, a young adult male humpback named Tracer. When we first slowed and then stopped a short distance away from Tracer, he proceeded to come over to us, swim around us, swim under us, and otherwise act as if he were just a curious "people watcher", much to the delight of everyone aboard the Tails of the Sea. There was no part of the vessel - bow to stern, starboard to port - that was not visited by Tracer. Even though we had stopped in the water, we were actually drifting very slightly in the wind, and it was amazing to realize that Tracer actually had to swim very slowly just in order to stay with us.

Whale Watching Trip May 28, 2010

9 am and 2 pm Whale Watch Trips - Fred

It was a bright day on the water, with mostly clear skies, excellent visibility, and light winds. On both the AM trip and the PM trip, all the whales (and they were all humpbacks today) were quite quiet (at least at the surface - we can only guess at what they were doing below). We saw no evidence of feeding, but many of the whales were staying below the surface for longer than average dives, so there may have been feeding going towards the bottom of the water column.

On the AM trip there were a few whales logging at the surface, so we visited for short periods with them, alternating with attempts to stay with other whales who were making long dives. On the PM trip, most of the whales behaved similarly, except that a few did do an occasional tail breach or a bit of flippering.

We were able to identify Anvil, Fern, Bayou, and Whisk and her calf. Seeing Bayou's tail flukes is always sobering - this young whale has been the apparent victim of contact with a propeller of a carelessly or cluelessly driven boat, and a large part of its right tail fluke, once the beautiful, graceful tail appendage it was born with, has been sadly shredded into several pulpy fingers.