As we headed offshore, we were treated to a beautiful October day out on the ocean. Skies were clear and winds were light out of the southwest. This produced seas that were less than 2 feet.
We had great views of historic features in Plymouth Harbor including the Duxbury Pier Lighthouse and Clark's Island. The Duxbury Pier Lighthouse, also called Bug Light by local fisherman, has recently received a paint job which makes her really stand out in Plymouth Harbor.
We moved out of Plymouth Harbor and headed east towards Stellwagen Bank. As we moved through the waters of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, we started seeing large numbers of high flyers. These offshore buoys are indicating the presence of fishing gear that could include gill nets and lobster pots.
We also started seeing large concentrations of seabirds including Northern gannets (adults and juveniles) as well as greater shearwaters, Cory's shearwaters and manx shearwaters. Since these birds feed on the same small schooling fish as our large baleen whales, seeing seabirds in an area is a good sign. We also saw a number of jaegers harassing other birds for their food. One jaeger was very successful and bullied a herring gull for its lunch.
As we crossed over the east edge of the bank, we finally started seeing a few blows off our bow. As our captain, Capt. Dave Niemi, slowed the boat down to follow NMFS guidelines, we realized that we had a trio of humpback whales. And as we watched this small group, we realized that all 3 individuals were well known individuals that have been sighted in our waters for many summers.
One of the whales was a humpback named Salt. Everyone onboard was excited to meet the most famous humpback whale in the world. Salt was the first humpback whale to receive a name in 1976 and she has returned each season to feed in the waters of the Gulf of Maine. Salt was named for the extensive white scarring on the top of her dorsal fin. It looked as it someone had "salted" it. Last year, Salt was seen with her 12th calf, a beautiful little humpback whale that was named Zelle.
Traveling alongside Salt was another long-time mother named Nile. Nile was born into the population in 1987 to a mother named Mars and since that time, Nile has had 4 calves. Nile was named for a black vertical line on her left ventral tail that looks like the Nile river. Our passengers never saw Nile's ventral tail pattern since she did not fluke out, but her hooked dorsal fin is quite distinctive as is the white pigmented blotch in the center of the right side of the dorsal fin.
This summer, the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies tagged close to 2o individual humpback whales with satellite tags. One purposes of this study was to document the tags to evaluate their impact on the health of the tagged animals. Over the course of the tagging project, most of the tags worked their way out of the animal's body and you could see the hole that was created on the right side of Nile's body.
The third humpback traveling with Salt and Nile was also a reproductively mature female named Trident. Trident was born to a mother named Flag in 1982 and since that time, Trident has been seen with 10 calves. Trident has a very curved dorsal fin that looks ver different than either Salt's or Niles. Also, Trident has a cut in the trailing edge of her right fluke and this cut is obvious even when one only gets a look at the dorsal surface of the fluke.
What fun to see these reproductively mature females traveling slowly together. It was obvious that they were resting as they moved slowly side-by-side. Interesting to see 3 adult females, all whom have had calves in the past, spending time together. One wonders if they were exchanging stories about their children and their grandchildren.
As we held position for this trio, a large commercial tanker was seen heading our way. The major shipping channels in and out of Boston Harbor cut right across Stellwagen Bank and through the waters of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. I was able to get a number of photographs of this ship as it moved past us and another whale watching boat.
Even though humpback whale receive protection when in the waters of the United States, there are many dangers to their survival. Getting caught in fishing gear and getting hit by vessels are two of the main hazards or concerns for these very endangered species.
Much thanks to our captain, Capt. Dave Niemi, for doing such an amazing job of maneuvering around this trip. Capt. Dave is one of our long-time fishing captains, yet he is very good at predicting where and when this trio would surface. At times, the whales would surface right off our bow. What a day to be a whale watcher!
