Whale Watching Trip July 28, 2010

2 pm Whale Watch - Krill

The winds calmed down and the sun was finally able to peak through the clouds. As we crossed over Stellwagen Ban, we saw a huge splash in the distance. This turned out to be a whale breaching clear out of the water. As we approached slowly, we realized that we had a familiar pair of humpback whales, Nile and Barb.

Nile and Barb and they have been seen spending time together over the past few weeks which is kind of interesting since humpback whales are suppose to be quite solitary and not establish these types of bonds. Nile is an adult female who has had a number of calves and Barb is a male. Not sure why Nile and Barb are spending so much time together, but it is obvious that they enjoy each other's company.

After leaving Nile and Barb, we picked up a single humpback whale who we identified as Milkweed. Milkweed was traveling through the area heading south towards Provincetown. Milkweed obviously had a destination in mind, but she was heading in the opposite direction of where we wanted to be. So we left Milkweed and continued our journey east.

Our last sighting was of Ventisca, a large humpback who was resting (logging) at the surface. Ventisca has a unique pigmentation patter on her dorsal fin and her tail stock including her flukes. She has a lot of white on these areas, much more so than any other humpback whale I know. Ventisca was not bothered by our presence at all, and continued to log right next to the boat. This gave our passengers a wonderful opportunity to see an endangered humpback whale up close and personal.

Whale Watching Trip July 27, 2010

3:30 pm Whale Watch - Joanne

We traveled offshore with clear skies, light winds, and calm seas. The air was very dry and visibility was unlimited. We traveled to the eastern edge of Stellwagen Bank where we came across over a dozen minke whales and over a dozen humpback whales, with another dozen a mile away in any direction.

We had whales doing some surface feeding, blowing bubble nets and clouds, but coming up with mouth closed. We then had whales deeper feeding.

In addition to the feeding, we got to see two breaches, one from the Grande Dame—Salt! She doesn’t do such things too often, but when she does it is impressive as she is massively large. She then proceeded to flipper slap for 5 minutes. While she did this, her calf Zelle just circled her closely.

Humpback whales seen and identified included: Alphorn, Bolide, Etchasketch , Freckles, Geometry, Milkweed, Nazca, Pele, Siruis, Salt + Zelle, Ventisca.

Whale Watching Trip July 26, 2010

11 am Whale Watch - Lauren

Today we had a beautiful sunny day offshore! Winds were coming from the West at about10-15 mph. Seas were expected to be rough 3-4 ft, but luckily they were more like 2-3ft.

Our first sighting was of a humpback whale named Anchor. This whale was doing some serious deep feeding. For her first dive she was down for about 5 min. then she was down on 10 or more min dives. And this set the tone for the rest of the trip!

Our next sighting was of an unknown juvenile humpback whale with a dark fluke. We thought this whale was going to break the deep dive pattern and start feeding, when he made a bubble cloud and came up right in the center of it. But there was that only one time and then back to subsurface feeding and deep long dives.

For our next sighting we got a real treat viewing the 2nd largest baleen whale, a finback whale! This whale was earning his name as the "greyhound" of the ocean as he charged right past us. We then were trying to head to a humpback whale that was about 1/2 mile ahead of us, when out of nowhere another humpback whale started making a bubble cloud right infront of the boat! We quickly stopped and got a great look at this whale coming up mouth open to feed! After this one bubble cloud, it was back to long deep dives.

Next we came across a minke whale, the smallest of the baleen whales traveling right next to the boat, and we got a nice look at this little guy. While we were watching the minke whale, another humpback whale breached about a 1/2 mile ahead of us and then this whale followed the long dive pattern. So although the whales were staying down on long dives our passengers got some great looks at three different species of whales, and several different whale behaviors, traveling humpback whales, bubble clouds, and even breaching!

Whale Watching Trip July 25, 2010

11 am Whale Watch - Krill

We had a beautiful day offshore with light winds and a slight swell out of the NE. We headed across Stellwagen Bank to reach the east side where whales have been sighted on a regular basis. In this area we had at least 8 humpback whales, many of them on long dives.

Our first sighting was of Cajun and her calf of this year. Cajuna and calf have been seen deep feeding with 4 or 6 other humpback whales including Pele, Alphorn, Milkweed and Belly. But today, she and her calf were feeding and traveling on their own. The mother and calf association is the most permanent for any baleen whale. But this mom has broken all the rules over the past few weeks. Nice to know that biologists and scientists don't know everything about whale behavior.

As we continued to watch this pair, both mom and calf starting to log or rest. Cajun was resting just a few feet beneath the surface while the calf was resting at the surface. This resting behavior makes it difficult for boats to see the animals at the surface. As the whales float motionless at the surface, they present a very low profile. Therefore, this behavior makes the animals susceptible to getting hit by fast moving boats, both large and small. So always good to keep a look out when in the area where whales are feeding, resting and socializing.

As we moved off this pair and headed NW, we picked up a trio of humpback whales that included a humpback whale named Fan. This is my first sighting of Fan this season so it was a treat to see this whale offshore. This pair was traveling slowly to the north and were spending a great deal of time at the surface. That gave our passengers plenty of time to get great looks at the whales.

Fan gets her name from the killer whale rake marks on the top of the left fluke. These parallel black lines reminded someone of a fan, and that is how this individual received her name. Humpbacks are named for some feature on the body, typically the dorsal fin or the ventral tail pattern. And although Fan has a very white ventral tail pattern, the rake marks on the left top of the tail allow for a perfect name.

On the way home, we picked up a basking shark who was traveling at the water's surface. At first, all we could see was the large, first dorsal fin breaking the water's surface. But as we slowly approached, we saw the body of this shark right next to the boat.

The shark had a lot of white scarring on its back, an indication that it had been hit by a boat or boats in the past. Basking sharks are the species or type of shark that spends a great deal of time close to the water's surface. This makes them very susceptible to getting hit by boats. So not only do the big whales need to be alert when at the surface, the second largest shark in the world needs to keep a look-out for boats moving quickly in the waters offshore.

Whale Watching Trip July 25, 2010

9 am Whale Watch - Joanne

We left Plymouth Harbor with mostly clear skies, light winds from the west and a chop offshore. We traveled across Stellwagen Bank to the eastern edge where we came across humpback whales. We started with a mature female named Milkweed. This was our first sighting of her without being associated with another whale for the entire season! She's been in a long term association with a few other humpbacks, but was traveling solo today.

As she headed south, we spotted two more humpbacks and headed towards them. This pair included Pele and Alphorn. They've been associated for a few weeks, sometimes with Milkweed and Cajun + calf. This pair was traveling steadily northeast. We spent 15 minutes with them and then continued to the west where a trio and pair were sighted.

The trio included two mature females-- Ursa and Fan. We didn't see the third whale but once from a distance. We also had Cajun and calf nearby. Interestingly, while Milkweed,, Pele, Alphorn, Cajun + calf were no longer all associated, they were within a 2 mile radius of each other.

All of the whales were traveling in different directions this morning, not showing many clear signs of deep (and obviously no surface feeding). At one point, Cajun's calf was rolling at the surface and did several tail breaches before we returned to port.

2 pm Whale Watch Trip - Joanne

On our afternoon trip, we had calmer seas, nearly glass and cloudy skies, as rain moved in. We headed to the eastern side of Stellwagen and spent time with Ursa and Fan. This pair was still together from this morning and steadily heading west-northwest. We got to see Fan's high flukes before she'd go on deep dive Ursa also raised her tail, but not as high. Both of these whales could be pregnant, as neither of them had calves in 2009 or this year, and they usually have a 2-3 year gap between calves.

We continued to the east to another pair of whales--Nile and Barb. These two whales have been seen together many times over the last week to 10 days, with no sightings of them without one another. Each year, these two whales spend a bit of time in association. They were traveling today, heading to the west.

Not far from this pair, we found Midnight and calf. Midnight was randomly traveling, changing directions frequently. Her calf stayed very near by, often surfacing a few times before her. As we watched this pair, we had half a dozen or more minke whales in the area, surfacing all around. We could hear their blows and even see the white bands on their pectoral fins.

Another beautiful day on the water watching whales!

Whale Watching Trip July 24, 2010

9 am Whale Watch Trip - Joanne

We left Plymouth Harbor with thick fog, light winds, and calm seas. Once offshore, it was like glass, the seas were so calm, and we had patches of visibility through the fog. We came across the western edge of Stellwagen Bank and picked up a pair of humpback whales, which included two newly named whales--"747" and Basin. Both of these whales were 'unknowns' last year whales we did not see as calves which were knew to the catalog). During the spring 2010 naming, they were each given names.

These two whales ended up being quite curious and swam right over to our boat, giving us a very rare opportunity to see them up close and personal.

They spent the next 45 minutes swimming under and around us, rolling over and watching us as we watched them--we could look right in the whales eye!! "747" was more active near us, swimming upside down right next and partially under our boat. Basin was also curious, but a bit deeper in the water. It was incredible to see them so close and get a chance to observe ever detail of their bodies.

We don't know exactly why whales do this, but they also exhibit this behavior to icebergs (large objects floating slowly in the water).

Once the pair was a safe distance from our boat, our captain started our engines back up and we headed south to another pair of humpback whales. This pair was very special as it included the first whale to ever be named--SALT and her new calf Zelle. Salt is the "Grande Dame" of Stellwagen bank and is a very special whale to see. We always try to get a look at her if she's around. Zelle is her 12th known calf and she's a grandmother at least 7 times over. She's taught us quite a bit over the years, including: that whales are migratory animals, reproductive rates, ages and intervals, and that humpbacks do not have monogamous mating systems ((ie. all of her calves have different fathers).

It was a perfect morning of whale watching!

2 PM whale watch aboard the Son IV

In the afternoon, we had a few more clouds and slightly more winds, but still relatively calm seas offshore. We had a few sprinkles of rain on our way in that evening.

We ended up near the same area we were in the morning, starting with a pair of humpback whales which included a mom and calf. Midnight and her calf were traveling steadily to the northwest. We got a chance to see her raise her fluke, showing us the nearly black tail, with just a splash of white pigmentation. Midnight got her name for her nearly pure black tail flukes.

As we watched the pair, two more humpbacks came into the area--"747" and Basin. These two joined Midnight and calf for a few minutes, then came right over to our boat again for a curious approach. They pair were both actively curious, rolling and spyhopping next to us, swimming from side to side. We once again shut down our engines and drifted. Interestingly, with little more wind, were drifting at approx. 1 knot and the pair was keeping up with us, staying close as we drifted away, showing it was their curiosity that brought them close to us.

This pair actually made us late returning to port, because we couldn't get away from them! Finally, a safe distance away, we were able to get underway and head back to port. An amazing day of whale watching!