Saturday, June 25th, 2011

9 am and 2pm Whale Watches - Leah

9 am trip:

This mornings trip was quite the ride, not only did we have a cloudy start with a bit of a swell, the sun did try to come out a few times during the trip. We traveled near the south east corner of Stellwagen bank today and we did have quite the treat of having a group of 5 humpback whales in the area to watch.

They were rather hungry today and were showing great looks at open mouth surface feeding, straining, and creating the best bubble nets. While we were watching them we also had a few Minke whales showing up here and there around the boat.

Also we had a bunch of sooty shearwaters, a juvenile northern gannet and a nice number of Wilson's storm petrels. As we were on our way back from the trip we saw one of the whales named Spike that was lob-tailing rolling and then inverted lob-tailing. Other individual whales that we saw during this trip were Fracture, Stub, Pogo, Abrasion Scrape and Spike.

2 pm trip:

This afternoons trip was much the same as the first trip for at least the area that we traveled to, but the sun came out, there was a significant difference in the amount of clouds compared to the morning trip and we had an additional humpback in the afternoon.

We still had the same whales from the morning trip feeding and enjoying themselves. They were also rolling and spending great amounts of time up at the surface. We had a new humpback with the afternoon group named Scrape. Scrape has a beautifully white tail with some distinctive black markings.

This afternoon we had some really cool bird activity going on, we had a whole bunch, at least a few hundred, sooty shearwaters resting at the surface and then getting scattered by our boat moving through the water. We also got to see these birds "flying" underwater. They were swimming to catch fish, it was fantastic to see. Also I've never heard these birds be so vocal before it was nice to be able to hear the call of the sooty shearwater.

11:00 am Whale Watch - Dianne

What started out as a grey and chilly morning surprised us with a beautiful day whale watching. We left the harbor with winds blowing 5-10 knots and 2-4 ft sea's inside the Gurnet. Once we left the last of our land protection the seas built to 4-6 feet and we had a bit of a bumpy ride out to our destination.

We rounded the tip of Cape Cod and moved parallel to the beach and spotted between 6-8 blows in the distance. We were able to concentrate on two adult humpbacks that initially were feeding deep and not giving us a look at their tail flukes but their behavior changed to bubble cloud feeding and we had some beautiful looks. As we were watching our two whales, another whale further out made a full breach and another was seen doing a tail breach.

We were also able to get a few quick peeks at two minke whales feeding in the same area. One of the most wonderful things that happened today, was that I had a passenger moved to tears by the whales' beauty and grace. A reminder that they are not to be taken for granted, and that they could quickly disappear from our oceans.

Wednesday, June 22. 2011

Watch our video of Polaris and Bisou!

11 am Whale Watch - Krill

As we headed offshore, we had calm seas and gray skies. We were lucky for we only had light rain on and off during our trip.

The sharp eyes of our captain, Capt. Russ, found 2 humpback whales traveling slowly to the northwest. We followed this pair for quite some time and realized that one of the whales is an animal named Polaris.

Polaris has a very dark ventral tail (fluke) with lots of white scarring on the trailing edge. These markings are very distinctive and allow us to identify this individual offshore. Polaris was traveling with a mystery whale, an animal we were not able to identify.

But we were determined to figure out the identity of this mystery whale. On the way back to Plymouth Harbor, we downloaded our digital images onto our computer and got a closer look at this mystery whale's tail. Using onboard catalogs of humpback whale flukes, our intern Matt, identified the whale as an animal named Bisou. Nice job Matt!

Wonderful to see 2 humpback whales traveling side-by-side. The gray, rainy day didn't have a damper on our spirits and we headed home with high spirits after seeing these two very endangered whales.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

9 am and 2 pm trips on the Tails of the Sea - Joanne

9 am Whale Watch -

We left Plymouth Harbor with cloudy skies and very light winds. Once offshore, we had nearly glass calm seas. We traveled across southern Stellwagen Bank, just a few miles off Race Point, the tip of Cape Cod. We found an endangered finback whale circling and exhibiting behavior indicative of feeding below the surface. The finback is the second largest animal to ever live and is only exceeded in size by the blue whale. We spent nearly 30 minutes watching this whale before continuing our journey.

With a shore report of a whale feeding off of Truro and enough time to make it, we committed to running down the backside just south of Highland Lighthouse in Truro. Highland Lighthouse is the oldest lighthouse on Cape Cod. In 1996, it was moved 450 feet back from the edge of the cliff as coastal erosion was threatening to cause it to fall into the Atlantic Ocean.

Once off the Highland, we had a call from a fishing boat that confirmed the shore sighting. We came across a humpback whale named Fulcrum. Fulcrum was kickfeeding, blowing bubbles to trap prey and coming up with her mouth wide open. Birds were circling trying to capture some of the small sand eels she forced to the surface. A dozen minke whales were also in the area.

Fulcrum, a mature female, is easily identified from a ship strike which left propeller scars along her back, chopping up her dorsal fin. Like most humpback whales, she was named for a mark on her fluke (or tail) but is now more easily identified by her dorsal fin. In addition, she suffered an entanglement several years ago and rescue teams unsuccessfully attempted to disentangle her on several occasions, thankfully, she got out of the gear on her own.

We watched Fulcrum continue to feed on small schooling fish using a combination of kickfeeding and bubble feeding. On two occasions she actually breached up and out through her bubbles! It was an amazing start to our day, with three whale species –finback, humpback and minke whales.

2 pm Whale Watch -

With light rains arriving, we left Plymouth Harbor to glass calm seas and cloudy skies. We traveled to the middle of Stellwagen Bank, near the BE buoy, coming across many minke whales. Minke whales are the smallest of the baleen whales that we see in New England, the second smallest baleen whale in the world. Often associating by age class, we had minkes scattered over an area of a mile or so.

We continued south, towards the southern edge of Stellwagen Bank, where two humpback whales had been watched by boat all day. The pair was making a steady 120 degree course to the southeast. Bisou (first seen in 2002) and Polaris (a mature male first seen in the early 80’s and named for the white ‘star’ on his right fluke reminiscent of the north star) were associated with each other for most of the day. While Polaris was seen last season, in 2010, Bisou was not in the last two previous seasons (2009 and 2010). Humpback whales, like all baleen whales are solitary animals, but are very social. Sometimes they form associations that may last a few hours, days, or in some rarer cases, weeks or from year to year. Polaris gave us a quick and unexpected tail breach. At about the same time, we saw tuna charging the surface, jumping out of the water and hundreds of small schooling fish ‘boiling’ the water nearby.

The pair of humpbacks continued linear travel with fluking dives that would last 7-8 minutes. While waiting for the pair to resurface, we had a small seal (harbor seal) surface not far from our boat. Seals are quite abundant off Cape Cod, with grey seals and harbor seals being the most common seals seen in local waters, with a large population of grey seals breeding off Monomoy Island near Chatham. All of the seals we see on Stellwagen Bank have some some common characteristics, including: giving birth to one pup on land (or ice) and nursing them with a rich milk that comes directly from their mother; they come ashore occasionally to rest or sleep and should be left undisturbed if seen on local beaches, give them plenty of space; seals use their large eyes to help them gather available light while hunting and diving; and they propel themselves with a side-to-side, sculling motion of their hind flippers and steer with their front flippers.

With time running out, we had one more look at Bisou and Polaris before we left the pair and headed west towards Plymouth. On our way, we came across a raft of Wilson’s Storm Petrels, all fluttering over the water’s surface as we passed by. Wilson’s Storm Petrels are an abundant, trans-equatorial migrant, which nest off Antarctica. Petrels feeding pattern is distinctive as it patters over the surface of the water with its long legs and toes and flutters like a butterfly over plankton.

The rain did not put a damper on our day of whale watching!

Marine mammal species seen today: minke-12+, finback-1, humpback-3, grey seals-3, harbor seals-2

Humpbacks identified today: Bisou, Fulcrum, Polaris

Birds seen today: common terns, roseate terns, sooty shearwaters, Wilson’s Storm petrels, laughing gulls, herring gulls, double crested cormorants

Monday, June 20, 2011

9 am and 2 pm Whale Watches - Tammy

9 am trip - Today on our morning trip we traveled far down the backside of Cape Cod, past Highland Light, where we found five humpback whales that were feeding together. When we first approached this group, a couple of the whales were feeding at the surface, but shortly after we arrived the whales seemed to be feeding just below the surface. We got several excellent looks at these animals and we were able to identify these whales as Cajun, Abrasion, Centipede, Polaris and Rocker.

Just when we were almost out of time on our whale watch, one animal did a huge spinning head breach off the left side of the boat! The animal popped up again quickly and fluked out as it dove beneath the waves. By looking at the underside of the animal’s fluke, we were able to tell that it was Cajun that breached. We only see breaching on about 10% of our whale watching trips, so seeing this awesome behavior was a special treat for everyone onboard.

In addition to the five humpbacks, we also had several minke whales scattered around the boat. Minke whales are the smallest of the baleen whales and often surface so quickly that you don’t get a good look at them; however, with so many minkes in the immediate area, it was nice to get to see this species so much in one trip. These whales were probably also feeding in the same area as the humpbacks.

2 pm trip - As we left Plymouth on our afternoon trip we already had our destination in mind; we were heading down the backside of the Cape again. Our first sighting of the afternoon turned out to be the second largest whale in the world, the finback whale. We did not stop to spend time with this animal because we knew it would take us quite awhile to get to the area where we had humpbacks earlier.

Our second sighting of the day was a neat one; we had 8-10 grey seals traveling together in a group. These seals were swimming across the surface and would occasionally porpoise, or jump out of the water while swimming. We spent several minutes with these animals before they swam out of sight, and then we continued on our trek to the humpbacks.

Soon enough, we had five blows in the distance and we approached the same five whales we had this morning: Cajun, Abrasion, Centipede, Polaris and Rocker. During this trip, the whales were spending more time surface feeding. These whales were using bubble nets to concentrate their prey. The whales would blow bubbles beneath the surface in a cylindrical shape. These bubbles coral the prey in the center of the cylinder and the whales would come up through the center of the cylinder with their mouths open wide, lunging across the surface and engulfing the fish.

We saw several excellent displays of bubble nets and lunge feeding. We also had a close approach by the humpbacks as they swam under our boat! We even had a couple of close approaches by a minke whale. Like the morning trip, we had quite a few minke whales dispersed throughout the area. Overall, two fabulous trips offshore!

June 20, 2011

11 am Whale Watch - Leah

Today we went WWWAAAAYYYYY down the back side of the Cape in order to catch up with our whales that were feeding. It was an absolutely gorgeous day out on the water. It was extremely calm, because there was no wind and it was clear as can be. And for all that nice weather, we had to travel a long way to find the humpbacks.

On our way to the humpbacks we did see 3 or 4 harbor seals and 2 grey seals, which I only have a photo of an arching back because I could never get to the right side of the boat in time to get a decent photo, they are fast little devils. We also had a minke whale that surfaced twice near the boat. And then there were some staying well away off closer to the beach.

When we arrived in the area where the humpbacks were feeding, we were able to identify Abrasion, Compass, Cajun and two other whales associated with them. They were working hard to catch fish today and we saw a few bubble nets, a partial kick feed and plenty of mouths wide open.

The whales were trying not to floss their baleen with seabirds, especially laughing gulls, which I guess literally get the last laugh due to the fact that they steal the fish right out of the poor whales mouth. We also did have a few wilson's storm petrels. It may have been a long trip but it was well worth it to see these enchanting animals.

June 19, 2011

9 am and 2 pm trips on Father's Day - Krill

We had a gorgeous day for Father's Day on both the 9 am and 2 pm trips. We were all very excited about heading offshore to see what we could find on this very important Father's Day.

As we left Plymouth Harbor, we headed due east over Stellwagen Bank and through the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Our visibility was excellent, yet we could not pick up any whales in the distance. So our captain, Captain Tommy, turned the boat more south and east and headed us down the backside of the Cape.

Here we picked up a small cluster of humpback whales that were feeding just off Higland Light and the radar installation in that area. We were very lucky for the bait was close to the surface giving us excellent looks at wide open mouths. Humpback whales are notorious for using bubbles and bubble nets to help them concentrate their prey, typically small schooling fish. And then they rise through the bubbles, mouths wide open, as they engulf as much bait as possible.

In this small group, we were able to identify Cajun, Sloop and Rattan. All of these individuals are regulars in our feeding area most summers. And they become like friends and family then just humpback whales.

2 pm Whale Watch Trip - Krill

For the afternoon, we headed down to this same area. As we passed Race Point, we started seeing minke whales and gray seals in large numbers. We assume that these animals were feeding just off the productive shores of Cape Cod. But always nice to see them regardless of what they are up to.

We found two humpback whales that were traveling side-by-side to the north. These individuals were Abrasion and Centipede. Funny that we didn't see either animal on the morning trip, and we were basically in the same area this afternoon as we were this morning. But these are wild animals and they are here to feed, not to worry about our needs and desires.

As we traveled with this pair, Abrasion flicked her tail high in the air. Abrasion's tail is close to 15 feet in width and this flick allowed us to see the beautiful black & white pattern on the underside of the fluke. Centipede also fluked-out, but no one was fast enough to get both tail shots.

Other humpback whales were sighted in the area, but we didn't have time to visit them. So all in all, a wonderful and very exciting Father's Day. Captain John Boats would like to thank our father's and their families for joining us on this very special day. Thanks for including us and the whales in your lives.