Whale Watching Trip July 2, 2010

11 am Whale Watch - Fred

For the 11:00 trip today on the Capt. John & Son IV, we headed out of Plymouth Harbor bound for an area a bit N of the SE corner of Stellwagen Bank. There we watched nine to ten humpback whales apparently deep feeding, but (fortunately, and unlike some recent trips) staying below the surface for only a few minutes at a time. We were able to identify Pele, Alphorn, Anchor, Division, and Cajun (see above flukeshot) and her calf.

Sometimes humpback whales will come over to a boat and give a close approach, a "close encounter of the whale kind" (see Cajun's dorsal fin image, above). There seem to be certain individual whales who do this more than others (and Roswell comes to mind as a prime example of this), but often it is the mother and calf pairs that may choose to approach a boat. The mother whales may likely be very protective of their calves, but the calves may have unbridled curiosity that can overcome this, and a boat very still in the water may sometimes be rewarded with a mother/calf close approach (see Cajun's calf's flukes, below).

Recently, we have noticed that Cajun and her calf may often treat whale watchers with a friendly close approach, typically going under the boat from one side to the other before then starting to move off. Although some mother/calf pairs may stay with a boat for a while, it seems to be Cajun's "style" to make close approaches with her calf frequently but briefly, as we saw once again today (that's Cajun to the left and her calf to the right, in the image below).

2 pm Whale Watch Trip - Bird Report - Ian

Today was a great day out on the waters of Stellwagen. I had rather low expectations for the bird activity, after hearing multiple reports with not many birds out there, but it turned out to be quite a birdy day, and the whale show was fantastic as well.

The most numerous bird out there today was the Wilson's Storm-Petrel, thought by many to be the most numerous bird in the WORLD, apart from domestic chickens of course.

Also nice, in addition to the 430 Wilson's Storm-Petrels, was seeing all four species of regular shearwater that occur on Stellwagen, namely Manx, Cory's, Sooty, and Greater Shearwaters.

We also saw at least 13 whales, including four cow/calf pairs, one of which was new for Stellwagen this year, Orbit and calf. Orbit and calf celebrated their arrival by repeatedly breaching, to the delight of all on board.

Partial bird list below.

Greater Shearwater 78

Sooty Shearwater 8

Manx Shearwater 1

Cory's Shearwater 7

Wilson's Storm-Petrel 430

Northern Gannet 2

9 am Whale Watch - Krill

We had beautiful weather offshore with clear skies and winds out of the southeast. The winds increased as we headed offshore, but spirits were high as we started looking for whales, dolphins and porpoises. As we crossed over the SW corner of Stellwagen Bank, we picked up a mother and calf pair. This is the mother that we saw yesterday, but could not identify for we never got a good look at her ventral tail pattern. It took us a long time to figure out who this mom was and it was Joanne who finally cinched the identification. This mother turned out to be a humpback female named Orbit and this is a recent sighting of her this season with a calf by her side. What a wonderful sighting and what a relief to figure out the identify of this beautiful mother.

Mom and calf were traveling slowly to the southeast. What made us nervous were all the small recreational vessels that were speeding through our area as they moved to and from the southwest corner of Stellwagen Bank. These boats were traveling at maximum speed and as they passed by, they took a path that was in direct line with the last position of the mother and calf pair. On both occasions we held our breath hoping that the calf would not surface as they passed by. Luckily, neither mother nor calf surfaced when the vessels were speeding through our area, but these moments remind us of the many dangers these endangered marine mammals face when they are in our waters to feed and to raise their young.

After leaving Orbit and her calf, we headed northeast and picked up a group of 5 humpback whales that were feeding deep. This group turned out to be Cajun and calf, Pele, Division and Alphorn. It was fun and exciting to see this group charge around the area once they returned to the surface to breathe. Cajun's calf stayed very close to mom's side and it looked as if the calf was really watching and learning from the movements and the behaviors of the adults.

As we watched this grouping, a second mother and calf pair passed to the north of us. We were never able to identify this mom since both mother and calf presented a low profile, but we did notice a small group of dolphins surfacing in their vicinity. And in the distance, we saw a large tanker coming out of Boston Harbor traveling in the shipping channels that cut across Stellwagen Bank. Large or small, any boat presents a hazard for these animals and other coastal marine wildlife that come to feed in our waters offshore.

All in all a great day offshore wtih wonderful sightings of endangered whales. Best of luck to all these new moms for this season. Let's hope that everyone offshore slows down for their sake and the sake of the marine wildlife in the area.

Whale Watching Trip July 1, 2010

9 am and 2 pm Whale Watch Trips - Fred

For both whale watches today we headed out to our "usual" spot, the general area where we've been over most of the trips as of late, just a bit N of the SE corner of Stellwagen Bank. We had a beautiful day, as far as the weather went, although the seas, at about three feet or so from the NW on the AM trip, may have been a little more than a few of the morning passengers liked - however, on the PM trip the wind and the seas subsided quite a bit - visibility was certainly excellent all day.

Even before we left the dock for the AM trip, we had an interesting "feeding frenzy" going on for a few minutes right next to the boat - there were quite a few terns, probably from Plymouth Beach, swooping and diving to catch small fish at the surface of the water (see the images above), right in Plymouth Harbor.

On both trips we saw all humpback whales (except for one brief look at a minke whale on the PM trip). Unfortunately for us (and for the whales, too), the sand lance seemed to be quite deep below the surface, and all of the whales were apparently diving deep and certainly staying for a long time below the surface before returning for just a few breaths (above) before diving again.

We were able to identify Pele (both trips), Percussion (dorsal fin and flukes above) (both trips), Alphorn (PM trip), Giraffe and her calf (PM trip), and Hancock (left, below) and Venom (right, below) (PM trip).

Whale Watching Trip June 29, 2010

11 am Whale Watch - Krill

We had calmer seas then yesterday and bright skies as we left Plymouth Harbor on our whale watch offshore. As we were leaving the harbor, we passed a lobster boat pulling up their traps. The colorful buoys in the harbor are marking strings of traps (pots) tied together. Each fisherman is assigned or chooses the specific color of their buoy. This color coding system helps lobster fishermen identify their gear from the gear of other fishermen working in the same area.

We crossed over Stellwagen Bank close to the SW corner. In this area, we had distant sightings of a number of humpback whales that were alone at the surface. We didn't stop to watch these animals for we heard about a larger group of humpbacks just east of this position. But we did get great looks at some of the unique pelagic birds offshore including Wilson's storm petrels and Greater Shearwaters (see image above).

As we approached this area, we saw quite a few blows separated throughout the area. Our first sighting was of Reaper and her calf of this year. Mom and calf appeared to be resting as they slowly swam side-by-side. Often the calf would stay on the surface longer than mom and would log (a form of resting) very close to our vessel. These mothers and calves are quite trusting of vessels in their area and will often approach whale watching boats if time allows in their busy schedules.

As we watched this pair and marveled on the size difference between mother and calf, a third humpback whale moved through the area. This whale was Cygnus and can easily identified by the animal's dorsal fin. The dorsal fin appears to be cut at the base and this results in the fin flopping over on the right side of the whale's body.

Cygnus moved right past this pair and continued to head south. Mother and calf didn't seem to disturbed by this passer-by and the calf started to nurse close to the end of our observation. As we moved on, we found a second mother and calf pair that turned out to be Midnight and her calf. This is the first sighting for me of this mother and calf pair.

Midnight was named for the very black ventral tail pattern. She is a beautiful humpback who now has a rambunctious little one to look after. Mother and calf were slowly moving to the south and west. Unfortunately, our time had ended so we slowly moved away from Midnight and her calf and headed home. A beautiful day offshore with great looks at some very special and very endangered whales.

Whale Watching Trip June 28, 2010

9 am Whale Watch - Lauren

We had a very windy day offshore today with SW winds increasing up to about 25 kts. It was also pretty hazy with a cloud cover of about 8 and seas reaching 2 - 4 ft. Our first sighting was of an unknown humpback that charged through the area with not so much as a hello, and never resurfaced near us.

Our next sighting was of two mother calf pairs in the same area, but not really associated. One was Salt and her 12th calf. As always Salt is a great whale to watch lifting her big beautiful tail out of the water, and her and calf gave us a great close approach and the back of the boat.

Our other mother calf pair was I believe a whale named Liner and her calf was very active when we first arrived breaching several times. The calf then quieted down and traveled around the boat with mom. Seas and wind began to pick up making for a bumpy ride home, but we had a great day with our two mother calf pairs.

whale Watching Trip June 28, 2010

11 am Whale Watch Trip - Krill and Val

We had a bumpy ride offshore with SW winds increasing to 15- 20 knots. As we crossed over Stellwagen Bank, we saw a big splash just a mile further off our bow. We slowed to check out this splash, but no whales surfaced before we had to continue our journey offshore. There are other marine animals that breach or jump out of the water. These include bluefin tuna, basking sharks and ocean sunfish. I would like to think that the breacher was a basking shark. But we will never know!

We continued our journey to the east and found Nile feeding deep. At one point, Nile surfaced just off the left side of the boat (port side) which surprised our passengers onboard. We watched Nile take a fluke-out dive and we were never able to pick her up again. Not unusual to lose a large whale especially when they are feeding deep for long periods of time. And the rough seas didn't help. The images above are Nile fluking out right next to the boat. Even though Nile did not pick-up her tail very high as she dove, you can still see the black vertical line on the left fluke that is used to identify this individual. This line forks at the bottom as it looks like the Nile river. Always nice to name a whale for a unique mark or feature on the body. That way, when you see the mark, it jogs your memory and you can remember the whale's name.

So we moved back onto the bank as we headed east. On the bank, we found a small cluster of humpack whales that were also feeding deep. These individuals were feeding alone or in pairs and all were saying beneath the surface for over 8 minutes. When they surfaced, their blows were very loud and very powerful, a sign that they are feeding deep in the water column.

We were able to get some great looks at these animals and identified one individual named Fern. Fern was feeding with a second humpback, but we never identified this individual for it didn't fluke out. All in all a great day offshore with fabulous passengers and great whales.

Whale Watching Trip June 25, 2010

9 am and 2 pm Whale Watches - Joanne

9 am trip

We traveled out of Plymouth Harbor with near perfect conditions: clear skies, warm air, calm seas. We headed across Stellwagen Bank to an area a bit farther northeast then we'd spent the last few days/weeks based on a report from one of the Captain John Fishing boats. When we arrived we had over a dozen surface feeding humpback whales. In every direction, whales were kicking their tails, blowing bubbles and rings to trap fish and coming up with mouths wide open, some dragging at the surface. The feeding lasted until the tide went slack and just like a switch, the whales stopped feeding and several started to breach. We had whales jumping out of the water in 3 different directions. Typically when the tide changes, whales stop feeding, if they have been feeding. Something very similar is seen with fishing (fish not biting during slack tide).

Humpbacks identified, included: Fern, Pepper, Milkweed, Sword, Grackle, Cajun + calf

***

2 PM

In the afternoon, the sea conditions approached near perfect and glassy, with sunny clear skies. We headed to the southeast edge of Stellwagen where we came across several humpback whales. Behaviors included flipper slapping and breaching. The whales were very social and groups were joining, separating, rejoining, separating. By the time we had to return to port, a gorup of 8 whales had come together.

Like all baleen whales, humpbacks are solitary animals, but they are still very social. Associations are usually short term, especially while feeding. Some whales do form longer term associations, that may last days or weeks or even from year to year. When groups are changing, there often is aerial displays, including flipper slapping and breaching.

Humpback whales identified, include: Ventisca, Ganesh, Sword, Cajun +calf, Pele , Tracer, Pepper

Whale Watching Trip June 26, 2010

9 am and 2 pm Whale Watch Trips - Fred

One of the interesting aspects of whale watching involves the opportunity to see interesting vessels throughout each trip, whether offshore on Stellwagen Bank, or on the way to or from the whales, or even just in the harbor. For example, for this weekend there was one additional "tall ship" in Plymouth Harbor (i.e., in addition to Plymouth's resident "tall ship", the Mayflower II). As we passed the State Pier on our way to and from the Town Pier where the Capt. John whale watch boats normally dock, our passengers had a good look at a visiting brig called the Westward. (In the image above, the Westward can be seen tied up to the State Pier, with the bow and foremast of the Mayflower II in the background.)

For both the AM and PM whale watches today the Tails of the Sea headed out to the E of Stellwagen Bank (probably still within the Stellwagen Bank national Marine Sanctuary, but out beyond the Bank itself). We saw mostly humpback whales who seemed to be feeding down towards the bottom, meaning that we saw them diving for somewhat longer periods of time, often taking fewer breaths at the surface before diving as well. When the prey (likely sand lance, a.k.a. "sand eels") is located closer to the bottom, it is more difficult for both whales and humans (i.e., the whales have to work harder at finding and catching the fish, and we humans have to be more patient while waiting for whales to surface).

On the AM trip, the first whale we encountered out to the E was a humpback named Rocker. For me, this was the first time I've seen Rocker this season, so it was nice to once again see an old friend.

We continued further E to find two groups of deep feeding humpbacks, a pair that included Ampersand (also not seen by me since last season) and an unidentified whale, and a group of five that included Cajun and her calf, Milkweed, Pele, and another unidentified critter. We did get to see a couple of breaches that probably no one was able to capture photographically, since each came unexpectedly and was not repeated. (It's always a lot easier to capture a breach when it's a second or succeeding breach following shortly after a first breach.)

We did at one point have a chance to observe Cajun's calf's left tail fluke as it rolled over not far from us a couple of times (see the image above). On the calf's flukes we were able to observe at close range an occasionally seen interesting color effect - there were some amber colored areas visible (mostly in the white areas, but the amber coloring also can be found, although less obviously so, in the darker areas as well). These amber patches represent a thin film of diatoms - microscopic single-celled algae organisms that can sometimes be found clinging to the skin of whales (although they are not parasitic, since they carry out photosynthesis for their food, just like free-swimming diatoms do). In some areas the film can even be seen as having been scraped off by contact with other surfaces (probably the surface of the calf's mother, who is often in such close proximity).

On the PM trip, we were not able to watch, either at close range or for very long, the first whales we spotted. It turned out that the first whales we saw, a couple miles away, were also the first ones spotted by a couple of Gloucester whale watch boats traversing the entire length of Stellwagen Bank (since there have been very few whales closer to their port at the N end of Stellwagen). Since the two North Shore boats were such a long way from home, with not much time to watch whales without running very late, our captain, speaking to their two captains over the radio, offered to let them stop searching and watch those whales, while we went off looking further for other whales. (While there did seem to be a couple of small groups of humpbacks for those two boats to watch, whale watch boats are not supposed to "gang up on" or otherwise "crowd" the whales, so we elected to continue on.)

We headed further to the SE, where our boat joined with a Provincetown boat to watch several scattered humpbacks deep feeding there. We spent much of our time with a humpback named Alphorn (named for the Matterhorn), who is is (unfortunately) instantly recognizable due to a healed wound behind its dorsal fin (above), as well as by its distinctive left and right tail fluke markings (below), which are not much like the approximate mirror images that most humpbacks have for their overall fluke markings. Alphorn seemed quite content to come to the surface close to us several times while we were stopped while waiting for each appearance, which was the high point on our trip.

I mentioned above how the captains of the whale watch boats talk to each other on the radio. This communication is very important, even though it is unheard by whale watch passengers. Not only does such radio traffic help each boat locate whales (useful for the humans on each boat), it also helps each captain coordinate the motion of his/her boat with that of the other boats, to prevent adverse pressure on whales from multiple boats - and anything that prevents "ganging up on" or otherwise "crowding" the whales is, of course, good for the whales. The image below shows another whale watch boat finishing watching a couple of whales before "handing them off" to our boat and then going off to look at the whales we had just left. Please note that the image is from a cropped photograph taken with a telephoto lens, and that we were therefore not as close to the other boat as a first glance at the image might make it seem. Please also note that the other boat is stopped in the water, which is absolutely essential when whales are so close to any boat.