We left Plymouth Harbor with thick fog and limited visibility. In these conditions we often have to listen for whales, as we would be able to hear the forceful exhalation of the whale at the surface before we would be able to see the animal. We were anticipating a challenging day, but our crew and passengers were up for the task!
As we traveled across Stellwagen Bank, the sharp eyes of our passengers spotted a small dorsal fin of an ocean sunfish at the surface. We did not stop for this animal, as we had reports of whales much further east but we did record sighting information (time and GPS position) for this animal to contribute to NECWA’s ocean sunfish research.
We continued traveling east where we had another interesting sighting. This time it was a small blue shark. Several minutes later we spotted another blue shark! Blue sharks are pelagic sharks that usually inhabit deep waters and can migrate long distances. We don’t see blue sharks very often so it was fantastic to see two in one trip.
All of a sudden it seemed as if we had crossed into a different ocean and we had sunshine and unlimited visibility. This made finding whales much easier and soon we found ourselves in the company of two pairs of feeding humpback whales. The first pair included a whale named Aswan. We have not been able to identify the other whale because we never got a look at it fluke. We had amazing views of this pair lunging at the surface. We could see the ventral throat pleats expanding and water streaming out of the whales’ mouths.
The other two humpbacks included Fundy’s 2008 calf. These two whales were feeding separately at first, but then we saw them surface together as a pair. We had excellent looks at this pair as they came up right under our bow. As quickly as these whales formed a pair, they separated again. As these humpbacks parted ways, we were treated to a huge spinning head breach by Fundy’s 2008 calf! It was amazing to see this young whale completely out of the water.
While we were offshore, we heard reports from other boats of 2-3 Sei whales further to the east. Our captain decided to try and pick up these whales before we had to head home. After a short ride Capt. Jonny spotted two blows off our bow. Sei whales are large, sleek baleen whales with tall dorsal fins. They usually feed on krill, copepods and other zooplankton.
We don’t see them on the Bank often so it was exciting to get to see them! At times we couldn’t see the whales but we could follow their fluke prints as they swam just below the surface. When they did come up to breath we had fabulous views of both Sei whales. It was a wonderful way to end a great day offshore!
