Whale Watching Trip July 23, 2010

11 am Whale Watch Trip - Krill

We had a beautiful day offshore even with the cloudy skies and predicated rain. As we headed out of Plymouth Harbor, we passed a Coast Guard Buoy Tender working in the channel. We could see the crew working on two green buoys that were aboard this vessel.

We picked up our first sighting as we crossed over the southeast corner of Stellwagen Bank. This was a humpback whale that was heading to the west, the direction in which we had just come. So we got one look at this whale and continued to the east.

In this area, we picked up a group of 7 humpbacks including Cajun and calf, Pele, Milkweed, Alphorn, Belly and Scratch. The adults were feeding deep while the calf spent a good deal of time at the surface. The calf started flipper slapping as it waited for mom to return to the surface to breath.

Then the calf lifted its head out of the water in a behavior called a spy hop. This behavior allows the whale to get a better view or look at things above the water's surface. Perhaps the calf was trying to get a better look at the passengers aboard the boat. I know they were trying to get a look at this cute calf! And boy what good looks they were getting!

When Cajun returned to the surface, she was joined by her cohorts as they traveled and moved in unison.

Suddenly Cajun's calf breached (jumped) right off the stern or back of our boat. We were all too amazed to do anything but stare eyes wide open in amazement! The calf cleared the water and landed with a huge splash. Then the calf continued to breach off the port side of the boat. Before long, the adults were back on the surface and the calf was right in their path. Luckily the calf made a quick turn and quickly got alongside mom.

Our last sighting was a logging (resting) humpback whale. Unfortunately, this animal was presenting such a low profile, we never got a good look at the dorsal fin. I doubt we will be able to identify this whale, but it was nice to see this whale up close and personal.

Whale Watching Trip July 23, 2010

9 am Whale Watching Trip - Fred

!!! GET OFF MY BUOY !!!

After leaving Plymouth Harbor (and the gull wars going on there), we headed ENE diagonally across and out of Cape Cod Bay, and into southern Massachusetts Bay, on our way to the E side of Stellwagen Bank, where we saw found four species of cetaceans. We were fortunate to see a half dozen Atlantic white-sided dolphins,

two or three minke whales,

a finback whale,

and eight humpback whales, including Alphorn (flukeshot shown below), Milkweed, Pele, Cajun and her calf, Nile, Barb, and Scratch.

We spent most of our actual whale watching time with the humpbacks (although the closest whale turned out to be a minke that briefly went under the boat from one side to the other before moving off). For a time we followed Nile and Barb as they slowly swam together in a generally easterly direction, while Scratch appeared to be subsurface feeding by herself not too far away. Then, as we have seen often over the past few weeks, Cajun (flukeshot shown below), Milkweed, Pele, and Alphorn were observed seemingly subsurface feeding as an organized squadron, although Cajun's calf did not seem to participate in the feeding during the time on this particular trip.

Whale Watching Trip July 22, 2010

11 am Whale Watch Trip - Leah

YAY!!!! Today was by far the most exciting day for me recently. Out on the water today we had an amazingly beautiful day. It was very calm out on the water today and we saw animals that I haven't seen in a while. When going to talk to the captain while in whale search mode, I heard from one of the captains on another whale watching boat that they saw a "Lag."

A "lag" is a short cut way of saying there are dolphins in an area, and the word lag comes from the scientific name for the atlantic white-sided dolphin which is Lagenorhynchus acutus. We had a large pod of about 100-150 of these dolphins and they were surrounding the boat. In this group there were mothers and calves and these young were absolutely adorable. Also these dolphins were swimming and darting all around, we even had one breach about 3-5 feet into the air. I've never seen them jump that high before. And for an animal that is so small they are very fast.

Along with this group of dolphins we also had our usual suspects of humpback whales. We had 6-7 that included Alphorn, Pele, and Milkweed and a few other whales. It was awesome to see a whale that is upwards of 35-55 feet in length swimming along side dolphins that are 5-9 feet in length. That was by far the coolest day I've ever had out on the water.

Whale Watching Trip July 19, 2010

1100 Whale Watch Trip - Lauren

We had a hazy day offshore today with increasing SW winds of about 10-15kts. Our first sighting was a trio of humpback whales traveling together. This group turned out to be mother and calf pair, Cajun and her 2010 calf, and Alphorn. They were traveling just ahead of us, when another single humpback whale appeared off our starboard side.

This third whale was Pele. Pele than joined our trio group and they all traveled together at the surface and went down together as well. This gave our passengers a great look at these large animals surfacing all together and then one by one lifting their big beautiful tails out of the water and heading on a deeper dive to some subsurface feeding.

Luckily the rain held off just long enough for us to get our last looks at the group of whales that we were watching and then as we headed home with some on off showers. Again luck was on our side because as we pulled into Plymouth harbor we had sunshine again!

9 am Whale Watch - Krill

A beautiful morning offshore with light and variable winds and a one-foot swell out of the SE. We headed to the east side of Stellwagen Bank and picked up a group of humpbacks that once again turned out to include Cajun and her calf of this year, Pele, Milkweed and Alphorn.

When we first arrived in the area, the adults were feeding deep and the calf was flippering next to the Dixie II, a fishing/whale watching boat out of Provincetown, MA. As the Dixie II stayed with the calf, we focused on the group of adults.

We were amazed at how Cajun, Milkweed, Pele and Alphorn coordinated their swimming behaviors in such an intricate manner. At times, it almost looked like synchronized swimming, humpback whale style!

The calf slowly moved into our area and started spending more time with the adults. Soon we saw that the calf was nursing from Cajun as the calf surfaced on alternate sides of mom. Then the calf started flippering once again as the adults continued to feed deep.

As we stayed in the area, a number of commercial whale watching boats and recreational vessels all moved into this area. At one point, we had over 9 boats, large and small, all in this area trying to watch this group. Because we were at the end of our trip, we slowly moved off and headed back to Plymouth Harbor.

Whale Watching Trip July 17 and 18, 2010

July 17, 2010 - Whale Watch Trip at 11 am - Joanne

We had the opportunity to spend time with endangered humpback whales, including a trio: Firefly and calf, escorted by Nile.

The trio was logging or resting at the surface. Occasionally, Nile would roll over and flipper slap, raising her long flipper out of the water for us to see. At one point, she was on her back and double flipperslapping, almost doing the backstroke.

Nile is a mature female humpback whale born to Mars in 1987. She was reported entangled in July 2001. An attempt was made to disentangle her, but her social interactions made such difficult. In October 2001, she was confirmed gear free, although she sustained some visible injuries to her jaw, lower lip, tailstock and flukes. Nile has been seen every year since her entanglement.

July 18, 2010 - Whale Watch Trip at 9 am - Joanne

On the 9 AM trip we traveled to the middle of Stellwagen Bank and then to the SE corner.

Our first sighting was of a small pod of 40-50 Atlantic White Sided Dolphins. They were charging through the water and riding in our wake.

Off the southeast corner of Stellwagen, we found Cajun+ calf, Milkweed, Pele and Alphorn all in association. The adults appeared to be deep feeding, while Cajun's calf spent more time at the surface, treating us to two full spinning head breaches.

July 18, 2010 - Whale Watch Trip at 2 pm - Joanne

On our afternoon trip, we ended up on the southwest corner with Nile and Barb. This pair was in association and showed us a variety of behaviors, including: taillobbing, flipperslapping, spyhopping, close boat approach, fluking, trumpeting, and long dives. The pair was going on dives that were 14-16 minutes long, but while at the surface, spent a great deal of time showing us different behaviors. We got to spend nearly 2 hours in the company of this pair, without a single boat around, until the very end when another whale watch boat joined us before they returned to port.

July 18, 11 am Whale Watch Trip - Krill

A fabulous day offshore regarding the weather. Winds were light and variable and we had a one foot swell from the SSW. As we headed over Stellwagen Bank, we saw splashing in the distance. This splashing was created by a humpback calf who was very active at the surface. As we slowly approaches, we realized the cause of all this commotion was Perseid's calf.

Perseid's calf was flippering (flipper slapping) at the surface. As the calf rolled from left to right and then right to left, it pulled its flipper out of the water and slapped it hard on the surface. In between flippering, the calf breached out of the water, giving our passengers a really good luck at this very special and endangered whale. As we continued to watch the calf, we started wondering where Perseid was. Possibly she was feeding deep, but we didn't see her the entire time we stayed with the calf.

As were prepared to leave the calf in order to view other humpback whales in our vicinity, the calf started to lobtail or lift its fluke out of the water and repeatedly hit the tail on the water's surface. This behavior makes a lot of noise as does flipper slapping so perhaps the calf was trying to communicate with its mom.

We finally moved on and found 5 humpback whales that were feeding deep. This group of whales turned out to be our good friends Cajun and calf, Pele, Milkweed and Alphorn. Alphorn is a humpback whale that got hit by a boat in the later 1980's. If you look just behind the dorsal fin (fin on the back of the whale), you will see a large chunk of the whale's back that is missing. Alphorn was hit by the bow of a 100 foot vessel that was going too fast in an area where whales were feeding. But she is no worse the wear and was charging around and feeding deep right alongside the other whales. (See image of Alphorn below).

As we watched this group, we realized that we had a 6th whale with a very black ventral tail pattern. We didn't know it at the time, but when we got home and had a chance to really examine our images from the trip, we realized that the 6th whale was Perseid herself. Although she was not dangerously far away from her calf, you almost got the feeling that the calf was making such a commotion in order to get mom's attention.

Great views of whales and a good look at a large tanker as it moved south into Cape Cod Bay on its way through the Cape Cod Canal. Just a reminder of the type of large commercial traffic that these animals deal with on a regular basis.

As we slowly moved away from this group of humpbacks to head offshore, three humpbacks suddenly breached out of the water. Examining the photos in more detail, the calf is the animal that breached in the middled. Milkweed is the whale on the right that breached last. As we moved off to head home, our passengers were thrilled to have such a great day with great sightings offshore.

Whale Watching Trip July 16, 2010

11 am Whale Watch - Krill

Well, we had fabulous weather as we headed out of Plymouth Harbor. Just a few miles northwest of Gurnet Point, the mouth of Plymouth Harbor, we saw two finback whales traveling back to the west. We haven't seen that many finbacks in our waters this season and to see whales so close to Plymouth was quite amazing.

We continued over Stellwagen Bank and saw two blows to the north. As we approached, we quickly realized that we had just found Salt and her 12th calf, Zelle. Both mom and calf were logging (resting) at the surface so we approached as slowly as we could. How exciting for our passengers to meet the most famous humpback whale in the world. Images below are Salt's and Zelle's ventral tail patterns.

Salt was the first humpback whale to receive a name and she has lead the way in helping scientists better understand the biology and ecology of humpbacks in our waters. Salt was first seen as an adult offshore in 1976 and came back with her first calf (that biologists were able to document) in 1980. This calf, named Crystal, is now 30 years old and he continues to return to feed in our New England waters. Being able to identify and document Salt and her offspring and provided a great source of data to researchers who are trying to unravel the mysteries of these endangered, yet truly amazing, marine mammals.

As we watched Salt and Zelle dive next to the boat, we waited from the to resurface before moving on to our last sighting. This sighting included another mother and calf pair, Firefly and her calf of this year, as well as another old friend, Nile. Firefly and calf have been traveling with Nile for some time now and these associations between current mothers, (Firefly) and previous mothers (Nile) was always interesting and thought provoking. Do these mothers associate with one another on a regular basis and is Nile in some small way, helping Firefly with the raising of her calf, even if on a temporary basis. Images below are Nile's and Firefly's ventral tail patterns.

Nice to know that there are still many questions to be answered about humpback whales. We don't know everything and there is still so much to investigate and learn.