Saturday, September 24, 2011 (12 noon trips, Tammy and Krill)

12 noon whale watching trips - Tammy and Krill

Today two Captain John boats left the dock at 12 noon for whale watching trips offshore. As you read the trip reports by Tammy and Krill, you will see how very different they are even though both boats were watching whales at the same time and in the same general area. This reminds us how very different each whale watching trip can be. No two trips are the same even when they are on the same time and in the same location. How fun is that!

We like to thank our NECWA intern, Nick, for the photos of the finback mother and calf above. And the image of the marine debris at the end of Tammy's posting. Thanks Nick!

Whale watching trip aboard the Captain Rudy Thomas - Tammy

Today we had mostly cloudy skies and calm seas. We traveled across Stellwagen Bank, east of Cape Cod and although it took us quite a while to get “there”, it was well worth the wait! Our first sighting was of a finback mother and calf pair.

Finback whales are the second largest whales in the world. A sighting of a mother and calf is always special, no matter what species, but it is quite amazing to see a finback mother and calf as it’s only the second time I have seen finback mom and baby! Both whales were swimming slowly and perhaps logging (resting) just below the surface.

We had fabulous looks at these two whales on both sides of the boat as mom and her calf traveled side by side. The size difference between mother and calf was very obvious; mom was probably 70-75 feet long and although this calf is probably less than a year old, it was probably near 25-30 feet in length!

As this pair was traveling together, the calf disappeared on a dive and we even saw mom raise her flukes out of the water, a rare event for finbacks! We see humpback whales raise their flukes on almost every deep dive they take, but this was the first time I have even seen a finback whale fluke out.

We then picked up two humpback whales that were each feeding solo. We had amazing looks at both whales lunging across the surface with mouths full of water and prey. On several occasions we even saw the whales lunge mouth open and we could see the baleen hanging down from the upper jaw.

When one of the whales would lunge across the surface we had excellent looks at the ventral throat pleats (rorquals) which allow the lower jaw to expand to take in even more food and water at one time. One of the humpbacks was lunging particularly fast across the surface. This whale would unpredictably change directions as it was feeding and it was amazing to watch this whale in action.

During the trip, our NECWA intern Nick, photographed some unusual marine debris right next to the boat. There were lots of ctenophores (comb jellies) and other gelatinous critters using this trash as a home base. How unusual!

Sooner than we would have liked we have to head home, but what a great day offshore!

12 noon whale watch aboard the Tails of the Sea - Krill

We headed offshore with better visibility than what we had on yesterday's trip. As we crossed over the mid part of Stellwagen Bank, we looked for some finback and humpback whales that the fishing boats had sighted earlier in the day. Our captains have a saying that is "Whales have tails and they use them!" And boy are they right! No matter how hard we looked to the north or south, we were not able to pick up these individuals, an indication that they have moved off for more productive waters.

And so we continued to the east and crossed over the bank into an area where other whale watching boats were reporting animals. We started to pick up sightings of seabirds, like greater shearwaters, which is a good sign since these birds tend to feed right alongside the big, baleen whales.

Once in this area, we found at least 2 to 3 minke whales, 4 to 6 finback whales and 3 to 4 humpback whales. Obviously there was a lot of bait in the area that had attracted a large number of whales of different types of species. We slowed down to watch a pair of finback whales. We hoped that this pair was the mother and calf that had been reported in this area earlier in the week. As we held position, another whale surfaced just off our port side so we slowly moved towards this whales.

This turned out to be a humpback whale named Nazca that was feeding just beneath the water's surface. Nazca was doing some really quick lunges a few feet down and finishing the lunge when returning to the surface. These lunges were so rapid and unpredictable, that it made staying close to this animal difficult and challenging. But our captain, Capt. Jonny, did a great job of predicting where and when this whale was going to surface.

A few times after surfacing, Nazca would defecate producing a very red colored scat. This red color is a good indication that Nazca was indeed feeding on Krill or some other type of large Euphausiid. Many scientists collect and analyze the scat of whales and other animals to access the health and reproductive status of the animal. And many researchers are using dogs to help them find scat offshore since a dog's sense of smell is so much more developed than ours. How fun is that!

We moved over towards the Capt. Rudy Thomas and picked up two more humpback whales. These individuals were not associated, but were feeding in the same general area. And both individuals were also doing this quick lunging just beneath the water's surface.

Again, we think that all the humpback whales that were feeding in this area were focusing on Krill or some other type of large zooplankton. Crew members Ron and Rich did a plankton tow off the stern of the boat, but did not collect any significant amounts of plankton in the sample. Whatever their prey, the whales were feeding at least 10 feet beneath the surface and this made any type of visual identification impossible.

We never had time to pick up the mother and calf finback whale, but others offshore had great looks at this special pair. Each trip we do offshore is so unique in terms of sightings even when you are whale watching on separate boats but in the same area and at the same time of day. But that is what makes any type of wildlife viewing fun, challenging and sometimes frustrating. These are wild animals doing what they need to do to survive. And their lives are intricately connected to the lives of their prey, the tides, the gravitation pull of the moon and sun and so many other variables that we are not able to document when offshore.