Friday, July 8, 2011

11 am whale watch - Michael

Although we did hit some rain on today's trip, that did not stop the whales providing us with an excellent whale watch. We first caught a glimpse of a solo Finback whale traveling very quickly, coming up for one or two breaths before going down on a deeper dive so we did not stay with that whale long. We then ran into a solo Humpback whale who fluked-out showing an almost all-black ventral fluke before going down on a deeper dive.

From this location we could see more activity off in the distance on both sides of the boat so we moved on from this solo humpback and met up with a pair of Humpbacks. One of these animals was quickly identified as Barb due to the distinctive dorsal fin, while the other whale remains a mystery.

Barb and this whale were traveling together and both preferred to do lazy fluke-out dives, just barely lifting their tales out of the water. Our mystery whale did however treat us to some excellent breaches including a tail breach roughly 100 yards from the boat, which made the rain totally worthwhile!

Friday, July 8, 2011

9 am and 2 pm whale watches - Tammy

9 am trip:

It was absolutely pouring rain when we left the harbor this morning, but we didn’t let the rain dampen our adventurous spirit! Our first sighting was of a single humpback whale named Barb. To our delight, Barb was being quite active at the surface. As we approached Barb, he did a couple of tail breaches, which is when a whale throws its body out of the water tail first. Barb then proceeded to lobtail, or slap his tail on the surface of the water. We also got to see Barb roll onto his back and start doing inverted lobtailing. Barb also gave us a little bit of a curious close approach!

Soon after we started watching Barb, he linked up with another humpback whale that came into the area named Joy. After watching Barb and Joy for several minutes we noticed a breaching whale in the distance. We never got to identify this animal but we saw it do a couple of spinning head breaches!

We then got brief looks at several other humpback and minke whales in the area before ending our trip with a sighting of a female humpback named Wizard and her calf of this year. The calf was spending some time on the surface while mom was down on a longer dive. This was a very special way to end our morning trip. A fabulous whale watch despite the rain!

2 pm trip:

It was still raining when we left for the afternoon trip, but once we got offshore we had a break in the weather. We started this trip with a single humpback whale who we identified as Northstar. Northstar came very close to the boat, giving everyone onboard an excellent look at the entire body of the animal.

Our next sighting was of two associated humpback whales, one of which was named Terrace, who is actually missing a piece of her left fluke. Two other humpback whales then joined Terrace and the other animal, forming a group of four whales. It’s always amazing to see a group of humpbacks together, as baleen whales are mainly solitary animals.

We then started seeing some bubbles appear on the surface; however, we weren’t seeing any surface feeding behavior, indicating that the whales were likely feeding deeper in the water column. Eventually our group of four started to split off in different directions, but we got one more looks at Terrace as well as another look at the breaching humpback we saw on the morning trip. All of our passengers agreed that it was well worth being out in the rain to get to see these amazing animals!

Monday, July 4, 2011

2 pm whale watch - Tammy

Happy Independence Day! What better way to spend the 4^th of July then on a boat, on a hot summer day watching whales?! We began our trip with a quick look at a pair of Finback whales that were traveling together. We didn’t stop and spend any time with these whales though, because we wanted to get into an area where there was a lot of surface activity during the morning whale watch. As we continued on in search of other whales, the keen eyes of our captain spotted an ocean sunfish aka Mola mola! Usually ocean sunfish are more common in the waters of Cape Cod Bay in the late summer and early fall when they come into the Bay to feed on gelatinous critters. This fish looked relatively small and was probably a young animal. We got several close looks at this mola before moving further offshore, but what a wonderful sighting!

Soon we started to get excited when we saw several large splashes. Once we got closer, we realized we had a couple of very active Humpbacks in the area! We started focusing on two whales, one of which was a whale named Seal. Seal was flipper slapping. This is when a whale raises its long pectoral flipper into the air and slaps in down on the surface of the water. Seal was also performing a behavior called lobtailing. When a whale is lobtailing, it usually positions itself vertically and upside-down in the water column with its tail in the air. The whale then slaps its tail down on the surface of the water. As we were watching Seal on the left hand side of the boat, we were seeing a different whale repeatedly breaching off the right hand side of the boat, so our captain decided to leave Seal and check out the breaching whale.

This breaching whale turned out to be a whale named Centipede and Centipede put on a fabulous display of Humpback whale behavior for us! This whale was breaching over and over and over. First Centipede did a few chin breaches and then a huge spinning head breach that was so close to the boat that some of the passengers on the pulpit may have gotten a shower! Centipede then switched over to lobtailing and inverted lobtailing. This whale even threw in a couple of tail breaches! It was incredible to watch how much force this whale can put into slapping its tail on the water. It was also incredible to hear the sound it made! Centipede was by far the most active whale I’ve seen this season and it was such an amazing sighting for everyone onboard.

As if the day weren’t great enough already, we ended our trip with a very special sighting. We got to spend a few minutes with Salt, the most famous whale in the Gulf of Maine. Salt has been seen in the Gulf of Maine every year since 1976 and was the first Humpback whale to be named. Most Humpbacks are named for the pattern on their fluke but Salt was given her name because it looks as though someone sprinkled salt on her dorsal fin. Salt is a mother of 12 calves and is a grandmother several times over and Salt’s family has taught us so much about Humpback whale biology and life history.

Today Salt was travelling with another unidentified whale, spending some time at and just below the surface before disappearing on a dive. Today was a fantastic day of whale watching and wildlife viewing and will definitely be a 4^th of July we’ll never forget!

Sunday, July 3, 2011

11 am whale watch - Michael

While the weather was not as picture perfect as it had been on some previous trips, the whales did not seem to mind. Once we got out North of Provincetown, we reached an area where roughly 8 to 10 Humpbacks could be seen all around the boat. We were also able to spot some Greater Shearwaters, Sooty Shearwaters, and Wilson's Storm Petrels.

We first joined a whale named Scratch covering quite a bit of distance and fluking out every 5 to 10 minutes. We did not stay with this individual very long because off in the distance we spotted a pair of whales fluking out and flipper slapping. After moving over to view them, they too began to move off into the distance so we left that pair and met up with yet another pair of humpbacks who were spending a lot of time at the surface.

We got some fantastic close approaches from this pair and a handful of fluke out dives. One of the whales I was able to identify as Thalassa, a former calf of Salt. After getting some great photos of this pair as they moved around our boat, it was time to head home, but even as we left the area, we could still spot Humpacks off in the distance on both sides of the boat.

A great day offshore and wonderful looks at some very endangered whales.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

9 am whale watch - Krill

On the morning trip, we were very fortunate to find a large pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins. These are the most common species of dolphin that we see feeding in our coastal waters. Our captain estimated that this group was comprised of over 200 members, many of the calves and juveniles.

It was fun and exciting to see the dolphins all around our vessel. Many of them were milling in the area, an indication that they were feeding deep. But as they circled the bait that was hidden from our view, this milling behavior gave us a great opportunity to observe how beautiful and amazing these animals are.

Feeding in the same area was a pair of finback whales. Although the dolphins were no feeding with the finback whales, we assume that the finbacks were also feeding deep given their erratic traveling behavior that often included traveling in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction.

One of the finbacks had dark and healed prop scars on its left flank just forward of the dorsal fin. This is evidence of a vessel encounter and one that hasn't greatly impacted this animal. But it is a reminder that vessels can have negative impacts on even the fastest of the whales offshore. Many vessel collisions occur when the animals are feeding or resting close to the surface.

At these times, the animals are not paying attention to what is in their area as they are more focused on chasing the bait or resting peacefully. To reduce our impact on these very rare and often endangered marine mammals, Captain John Boats strictly adheres to the NMFS Guidelines for Whale Watching.

As our finback whales moved off to the east, we picked up a group of 4 humpback whales that were charging after the bait. With the backdrop of Provincetown to our southwest, we watched this group circle back our way.

In this group were 3 whales that we could identify: Stub, Abrasion and Bounce. Stub gets his name for he is missing his dorsal fin. But his ventral tail pattern is quite beautiful and has a number of really great field marks for re-identification.

This group started surface feeding just off the bow of the boat. One whale did a chin-kick feed which created a huge splash at the anterior end of the animal. This smack by the chin is then followed by a smack by the tail in order to create a disturbance in the water that helps to confuse the sand lance. Then it was lunging with mouths wide open and this gave us a great opportunity to see the baleen hang down from the upper jaw.

Other humpbacks in the area included Epee, Duckpin and Reflection. Duckpin has a very distinctive dorsal fin and a great ventral tail pattern. It is amazing how unique each dorsal fin and ventral fluke are for this species. So nice that we only have to take a photo to identify our marine friends.

We also had a quick glimpse of Ganesh and her calf of this year. As they headed right toward our boat, our captain put the engines in neutral so we drifted close to this beautiful pair. Both mom and calf dove as they approached the side of the vessel. The calf is really cute and has a number of marks on its body. Probably caused by barnacle scrapes from his or her mom as they rub up against one another.

As we slowly moved out of the area to head back to Plymouth, we passed a small flock of greater shearwaters that were sitting on the water's surface. We also had close look at a Wilson's storm petrel, said to be the most abundant bird in the world. Both species are considered pelagic or ocean going and both are long-distant migrators.

Another great day of whale watching offshore. Can't wait until tomorrow!

Saturday, July 2, 2011

11 am whale watch - Krill

A wonderful day offshore with lots of humpback whales and minke whales just off the Peaked Hill Bar. Our first sighting was a humpback whale named Loon. Loon gets her name for the white mark on the right side of her ventral fluke. Amazing enough, this unusual white pigmentation pattern really looks like a bird!

Humpback whales are named for distinctive marks on their bodies. Typically, the mark comes from a unique aspect of their ventral tail pattern. But sometimes, the mark and therefore the name, is based on a feature of their dorsal fin or some other body feature.

Loon was feeding at the surface and was producing bubble nets as a way of corralling the bait. Then Loon would surface mouth wide-open engulfing as much food and water as possible. Many of the gulls and seabirds were feeding right alongside Loon for her bubble nets were pushing small schooling fish towards the surface. An incredible sight with lots of action and activity all around the boat.

A number of our passengers wondered what the white circular marks were on Loon's lower jaw. These marks were clearly visible as Loon kept her head above the water's surface when straining. Circular white marks are often seen on humpback whales and are scars left by barnacle. Whales like humpbacks can carry over 1 tons of barnacles on their bodies and humpbacks have been known to carry 3 different species of barnacles. When these freeloaders die and fall off, they leave a tell tale mark of where they were once attached.

After leaving Loon, we slowly moved through the area and saw lots of bait at the surface. Bait just below the water's surface creates a rough look that often catches your eye. We even saw some of the larger fish splashing at the surface as they were feeding on smaller bait. The birds were once again hovering just above in hopes of getting a few fish as well.

As we passed one of these bait balls, a minke whale surprised us by surfacing between us and a small recreational fishing vessel. We assumed that this small baleen whale was feeding in the same area as their larger cousins, the humpback whales. Minke whales are taking the brunt of commercial whaling that is operating today by Japan, Iceland and Norway. Hard to understand why these countries don't convert over to whale watching. Whale watching is a win-win situation for all concerned: the whales, the industry and the communities that offer whale watching from their shores.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

9 am and 2 pm whale watch trips - Leah

During Saturday mornings trip we were on our way to Peaked Hill which is where our sightings of the whales have been quite plentiful. We had a perfectly calm day out on the water and were very excited to find some whales.

Our first sighting was of an injured humpback whale that was small in size. Although it was sad to see this animal's injuries, it was an awe inspiring sight to see this whale. We go out everyday and do research on these whales in order to learn more about their lifestyle and how they live in our waters. This small humpback was a reminder that human's can negatively effect their lifestyle in the process of living ours.

Through the quick thinking of our captain, Johnny Dennen, and the responsiveness of the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies (PCCS), we learned that this whale had been entangled and the entanglement had cost this whale it's tail. PCCS did some scar analysis of this whale when they found it and figured out that it is in the process of healing. Whales can live without their tails and I am very hopeful that this whale will live a long and wonderful life.

Also as much as it was a sad sight to see this whales injury it was amazing to be in the presence of such a strong young whale. Now my only hope is that when this whale comes up for naming, it doesn't get a name like Stump, it should get a good strong survivor name, like Victory or Champ. I want to once again thank Johnny Dennen and the team from PCCS for doing such a great job and for doing whatever it takes to keep these endangered whales monitored and protected.

After we left our first sighting we came upon a large group of feeding whales that were all feeding in one great big mass. They were creating bubble nets and kick feeding and being a joy to see. They seemed very focused on straining as much food out of that water that they could possibly catch. At one time there were 5 all at the surface together in one spot, with more all around the boat.

We also had 4 or 5 minke's surfacing all around and finbacks that were also coming and going all around. We again keep having lot's of sooty and greater shearwaters feeding with the whales and some great looks at the wilson storm petrels. We had a tough beginning to our trip but a wonderful end to the morning, and I will be very grateful to see the injured whale again to see how it is progressing along.

2 pm - Whale Watch

As the afternoon trip kicked off, the wind did start to pick up a little bit but that did not stop us from enjoying our whale watch. Once we got out to the whales we started off with a set of humpbacks that were Tectonic and Echo. They were a wonderful pair to watch because Echo was showing us great looks at how kick feeding should be done, if it was a sport Echo would be a pro. Besides kick feeding these two would roll over and give us great looks at the rorqual pleats on the bottom of their jaws. We also got to see those lovely large flippers that these whales are so well known for.

At one point as we were sitting and waiting for the whales to resurface Echo came right up to the front of the bow of the boat with its mouth wide open and made it look like it was going to engulf the front of the boat. Then after that as Echo rolled over the whale lifted its giant flipper out of the water and the people on the bow of the boat almost got to shake hands with a whale. You could not ask for a more impressive sight to see or experience.

We also have some finbacks that were lunge feeding on their sides which was also impressive because we could see the rorqual pleats on them as well, since they had there bellies facing the boat. And we also got a look at some minke's as well that were surfacing in the area.