Friday, July 22, 2011 (9 am and 2 pm trips)

9 am and 2 pm whale watch trips - Tammy

9 am trip:

Today was definitely the hottest day of the summer so far with land temperatures getting close to 100 degrees. Today’s whale watching trips were also some of the best we’ve had in a while! On the morning trip, we had fantastic active surface behavior, including spinning head breaches from humpback whales named Coral, Dracula and Venom’s calf of this year. We also saw flipper slapping from Dracula and Venom’s calf. Venom’s calf was feeling quite playful this morning, as this young whale was repeatedly breaching and flipper slapping while it waited for mom to return to the surface.

We then picked up a single humpback whale named Putter who was feeding. We watched with excitement as Putter would produce a bubble net and then come up through the middle with a mouth full of fish. We got beautiful looks at the head and mouth of Putter as he was straining the water out of his mouth at the surface.

After several minutes with Putter, we moved to an area with 20-25 feeding humpbacks all around us! In this feeding frenzy, we saw humpback feeding techniques like bubble netting and kick feeding. We could see the baleen hanging down from the upper jaw as these whales would surface with mouths wide open. We also saw several minke whales circling in the area and who were likely getting in on the feast! It was a fabulous morning of whale watching!

Humpbacks whales identified so far include: Coral, Venom and calf, Alphorn, Dracula, Strike, Putter, Cajun, Colt, Etch-a-Sketch, Abrasion.

2 pm trip:

The afternoon trip was just as amazing as the morning trip! We had more surface feeding in the afternoon. Our first sighting was of a humpback named Rocker and Rocker had an interesting way of feeding. Each humpback whale has a unique way that they like to catch their prey and Rocker’s was particularly fascinating to watch. Rocker was doing chin-kick feeding for he would come up and do a slight chin breach and then do one kick at the surface to stun the prey. Several seconds later Rocker would up through the bait with what looked like a full mouth and then he would roll over onto his back. Rocker did this sequence of chin-kick, gulp, roll several times and it was so intriguing and amazing to watch.

While we were watching Rocker, we were also surrounded by a dozen or so minke whales and a pair of finback whales who were also lunge feeding at the surface. It was quite the scene to be surrounded by three species at once-the smallest minke whales, the medium-sized humpback and the second largest whale in the world, the finback!

The rest of our afternoon was spent watching more amazing feeding behavior. Like the morning trip, we had 20 or so whales scattered throughout the area. We got great looks at a humpback named Coral, who was kick feeding and lunging at the surface. It was interesting to see how Coral’s feeding techniques differed from Rocker’s. We then caught up with a couple of groups of whales. In one group of 4-5 was Salt, the most famous whale in the Gulf of Maine.

As this groups passed behind us, we once again found ourselves in the middle of humpbacks, finbacks and minkes as everyone was working the bait. We would look down periodically and see the massive schools of fish in the water below us, looking shiny and silvery beneath the surface. It was incredible to see how much bait was right beneath our boat!

We ended our trip with one last feeding display. We had bubble nets all around our bow when 5-7 humpbacks swam under our boat and came up with open mouths right on the other side of the boat! It was a sight that no one on board will forget. An absolutely wonderful, 3-species day of whale watching! Humpbacks identified so far include: Rocker, Coral, Rattan, Salt, Strike, Tungusta, Dracula, Spike, Abrasion, Reflection.

Friday, July 22, 2011 (11 am trip)

11 am whale watch - Michael

Today's whale watch had some of the best wildlife variety of any whale watch I've been on this season. In addition to seeing a wide range of Humpback whale behavior, we also got some fantastic looks at a Basking Shark, Minke whales, and Cory's Shearwaters!

As we made our way out to Stellwagen Bank, the first few sightings we had were of individual Humpback whales traveling and spending little time at the surface. The further east we went, the more activity we spotted. We came across a group of 5 of Humpbacks including Salt and Rattan, that gave us a great look at some fluke out dives as well as flipper slapping, where the whale brings its long pectoral flipper out of the water and slaps the water surface repeatedly.

While we were viewing these animals on one side of the boat, a passenger pointed out a dorsal fin in the water on the other side that belonged to a Basking Shark! These huge fish are the second largest species of fish in the world after the Whale Shark usually reaching 20 to 30 feet in length. I would estimate the shark we spotted to be around 15 feet.

After observing this shark and the group of Humpbacks near by, we made our way to another active sighting where we had around 8 Humpbacks feeding at the surface in groups of twos and threes. These animals were blowing bubble nets to corral their prey, the American Sand Lance, as well as using some kick feeding techniques to stun the small bait fish at the surface before taking large gulps and straining the water out. Amongst all the activity, we spotted Coral, Echo, Jumanji, and Tectonic.

There were also large flocks of birds looking to grab a bite to eat as the whales fed. Wilson's Storm Petrels, Greater Shearwaters, Sooty Shearwaters, Laughing Gulls, Herring Gulls, and Cory's Shearwaters were all attempting to steal a meal from the Humpback whales!

Thursday, July 21, 2011 (9 am and 2 pm whale watches )

9 am and 2 pm whale watches - Krill

This morning we had a fabulous whale watch as we were treated to a large concentration of whales on the southern part of Stellwagen Bank. Most of the whales were humpback whales, but a few were minke whales. Both humpback and minke whale are baleen whales that feed mainly on fish in our waters.

Winds were out of the southwest and they were picking up quickly. This made for a bit of a bumpy ride as we maneuvered around humpbacks that were traveling alone or in small groups. Many of the humpbacks were feeding deep or were searching for bait. Our favorite sighting was a trio of humpbacks that turned out to be Venom and her calf of this year who were with another adult whale.

Venom and the other adult appeared to be feeding deep, while the calf was traveling by Venom's side. At one point, the calf started nursing from mom and we saw the calf surface on alternate sides of Venom. This trio then surfaced right off the bow of the boat, giving us the best looks at them the entire trip!

All in all a fabulous morning of whale watching with at least 20 humpback whales in the area as well as 5 minke whales.

2 pm whale watching trip:

Winds were now gusting out of the southwest. We headed a bit closer to Cape Cod and Race Point to get some protection from the increasing winds. As we passed Race Point, we saw a blow a few miles to the east. This turned out to be quite a find for the animal started breaching (jumping) out of the water. As this large animal cleared the water's surface, we saw long white flippers on either side of the body. That clued us in to the fact that this was a humpback whale.

As we slowly approached this humpback, the whale breached out of the water head first in a behavior called a chin breach. It was fascinating to see this whale torpedo itself out of the water creating a huge splash upon reentry. As we held position for the animal, it breached just off our bow head first once again, but this time the whale spun in the air before hitting the water on its side. This behavior is called a spinning head breach and it is said to be the most magnificent behavior ever witnessed in the animal kingdom. I think everyone onboard the boat today would agree!

As this humpback fluked out, we caught a glance of the underside (ventral) of the tail. We identified this whale as Coral, a male humpback whale that has been seen many times this season. Coral continued to repeat amazing spinning head breaches just off our vessel. Then Coral rolled on his side and lifted his flipper out of the water. Slap! Coral brought the flipper down with great effort creating a big splash and a loud sound.

As we watched fascinated by Coral's quite active behaviors, he rolled upside-down once again and this time lifted both flippers out of the water before slapping them down on the water's surface. This gave us a great chance to see the series of ventral pleats that run down the belly of the whale. These pleats expand when the whale is feeding therefore allowing the animal to take more food and water into its mouth before straining.

Our captain counted over 15 spinning head breaches by Coral before we had to start heading back to Plymouth. Although our ride home was bumpy and wet, our passengers were delighted with the trip. Coral was definitely the star of the show today!

Thursday, July 21, 2011 (11 am whale watch)

11 am whale watch - Dianne

The weather forecast predicted that today would be the hottest day so far this year, and we all know how hot the Town Wharf can be. So imagine the relief everyone felt when the cooling breezes picked up and made it one of the most beautiful summer days ever!

As we left the harbor and moved out into Cape Cod Bay the winds unexpectedly picked up some more and seas began to build. Our passengers had a rocky and rolling trip out to the back side of the Cape. As the seas continued to build and the seas rose the conditions became more and more difficult for spotting *blows*.

Luckily, another whale watch boat was able to radio the location of a whale and we were able to get a look at a Finback. Soon after ,we spotted the blow of a Humpback and were treated to a series of tail breaches! Our passengers were elated after enduring a salt sprayed ride out!

Wednesday, July 20, 2011 (9 am and 2 pm WW)

9 am and 2 pm whale watches - Joanne

9 am trip:

We headed offshore to the Gerry E. Studds-Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary with calm seas, light winds, and mostly clear skies. Among the fleet of tuna boats on the SW corner, we saw a single blow. As we approached, it was very clear who this was going to be—SALT. Her white dorsal fin visible and identifiable from a great distance away, we saw ‘the Grande Dame of Stellwagen Bank’ raise her flukes high out of the water. We had a special guest on board who had just adopted SALT the day prior and we were thrilled to be able to ‘deliver’ a real life sighting. Salt resurfaced right next to our boat, swimming towards us and under our bow, letting everyone see her massive size! Salt is one of the biggest humpback whales around.

After watching Salt head on her next dive, we continued on our way and found another group of humpbacks traveling not far from the fishing fleet. Ampersand and Stub were traveling with a third humpback whale, heading right into the fleet of anchored fishing boats. We watched from afar as to not want to get ourselves tangled in all the lines and gear off the sterns of the boats.

Spread throughout the area, easily a dozen humpbacks, traveling singly, in pairs and trios, as well as a handful of minkes. Coming right towards us was a pair that fluked coming at us. We could identify them very easily as Abrasion (a mature female born in 1997 to Liner) and the newly tagged Fern. Abrasion has white scars on the left side of her caudle peduncle from an injury; this injury is so prominent in the field that she is likely to be identified on this basis well before she raises her tail for a dive.

Fern was a little harder at the angle diving towards us, but we could see the satellite tag in the whale. Quickly trying to narrow down the list of tagged whales, this dorsal fin even at this angle didn’t fit any of the known tagged whales. We confirmed it was Fern and later learned from the research team that she had just been tagged that morning. We got good documentation of her tag and movements to help contribute to the information being gathered by the tags. Fern was first seen in 1983, but her age is unknown as she wasn’t a calf when first sighted. She was one of the first humpback whales to be disentangled by a rescue team in 1985 and has been seen every year but one since her rescue. Documentation of Fern over the years has allowed researchers to gain quite a bit of information on long term impacts of entanglements, scar rates, etc.

Traveling not far from the pair was another humpback, Exclaim. Exclaim has a chunk out of his left fluke, making him easy to identify from any angle/direction.

With a few minutes left, we had a few more humpbacks to see, including Salt’s granddaughter: Etch-a-sketch. She wasn’t far from where Salt was seen, highlighting the strong sight fidelity seen in humpback whales. They return to the waters their mother’s brought them to. Salt brought her daughter Thalassa here and Thalassa brought Etch-a-sketch here; and she has returned because humpbacks return to the feeding areas their moms bring them to as calves. Like her grandmother, Etch-a-sketch has been seen in the West Indies during the winter months, as has her ‘uncle’ Crystal.

On our way out of the area, we stopped to watch one more pair of humpbacks, which included a whale named Swallowtail. Swallowtail was entangled in fishing gear last summer off Cape Cod, while she was believed to be traveling with a calf. Rescuers attempted to free her, but were unsuccessful before the day light was lost. Several attempts were made to relocate her the next few days, all of which were unsuccessful. We were very excited to see Swallowtail on this day and document her gear free. Over 70% of the humpbacks in the Gulf of Maine have entanglement scars on their bodies and each year it is estimated 200-400 of them get entangled; some are never seen again, some are cut freed and some, like Swallowtail, free themselves.

2 pm trip:

We headed offshore with increasing winds and a slight chop offshore. In the same area we spent our morning, we found whales remained, as numerous as earlier in the day. Humpbacks were spread about traveling solo, in pairs and trios and groups of four.

Once again, we were lucky enough to see Salt, the first humpback to be given a name, which has been seen every summer but one off the coast of Massachusetts.

We also got to see a whale that does not have a name yet, due to its young age. This is Rapier's 2009 calf who was hit by a boat a few years ago and has some scarring on the caudle peduncle as a result. Vessel strikes can be hazardous and deadly to whales; thankfully, Broomball survived the strike. Whales won’t get out of the way of boats, so boats have to go around whale and use safe operating practices around whales to keep them safe.

Eruption began tail lobbing, smacking the flukes against the surface of the water. Tear was also nearby, raising his white flukes high out of the water.

Aerial displays were quite numerous in the increasing winds, although not very consistent. We had different whales in different areas breaching or tail lobbing or flipper slapping, but usually short lived. We don’t know why whales exhibit these behaviors, but humpbacks are famous for their aerials. They are some of the rarer behaviors to see, as breaching is only seen on 1 out of 15 trips on average.

We also saw Venom and calf traveling with Infinity and Cajun. This calf was doing a bit of aerials but the most exciting was the two HUGE breaches right next to our boat from Cajun. Seeing ‘big’ whales breach is quite impressive, especially when they are so close by. And we always hope for two so you can know where to look and get your camera ready for the second breach. Cajun is a ‘big’ humpback whale and did two breaches; making it possible for everyone to see the second one if they missed the first. Interestingly, after her two breaches, she left the foursome and traveled alone. Often when associations ‘break up’ we see some aerials from one or more of the whales, perhaps their way of saying goodbye, perhaps it means something else all together.

Shearwaters (sooty and greater) and Wilson’s storm petrels were spread about today, as well as laughing and herring gulls.

Humpback whales seen today included: Salt, Stub, Ampersand, Abrasion, Fern, Exclaim, Etch-a-Sketch, Swallowtail, Rattan, Infinity, Eruption, Tear, Cajun, Venom and calf.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011 (11 am WW)

11 am whale watch - Krill

As we headed offshore, we had SW winds that were increasing slowly over the course of our trip. As we approached the west side of Stellwagen Bank we started to pick up blows or spouts of whales just off our bow or sides of the vessel.

Many of the humpbacks were surfacing very close to high flyers, buoy systems that help the gear be more visible to large, commercial traffic that transits offshore.

As we settled into the area above the bank, we realized that we had at least 20 and possibly 25 humpback whales scattered throughout the area. Some humpbacks were traveling alone, but there were at least 3 separate groups comprised of up to 5 individuals.

One of the groups had a mother and calf pair who turned out to be Venom and her calf of this year. The calf got a bit playful as it swam right alongside the adults. It was fun to see how much smaller the calf is compared to the larger adults that made up this grouping.

We watched the groups and saw that they were not moving out of the area and they were circling the bait, only coming to the surface to take breath. It was great to see how individuals within these small groups coordinated their movements as they dove side-by-side in pursuit of more fish.

Not only did we have quite a few humpback whales in our area feeding deep, but we also had at least 5 minkes whales. This species of baleen whale is a common feeder in our area this time of the year. This small and unassuming animal is not the focus of our watching since they are quite independent and usually not as active as their larger cousin, the humpback whale.

At the end of our trip, we passed a flock of laughing gulls that were resting on the water's surface. Many of the seabirds offshore feed right alongside the whales. Beautiful looks at Wilson's storm petrels and greater shearwaters.

All in all a great day offshore. We were able to identify these humpback whales: Abrasion, Alphorn, Condensation, Jabiru, Venom and calf, Epee, Infinity, Alphorn, Pele, Conflux, and Liners' 2008 calf.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011 (11 am whale watch)

11 am whale watch - Joanne

We traveled out of Plymouth Harbor with light winds, clear skies and warm temperatures. After cross in to the Gerry E. Studds-Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, we saw an increase in vessel traffic and activity, with both recreational and commercial fishing boats and recreational and commercial whale watching boats.

Once through the southwest corner of Stellwagen Bank, we came across a very active pair of humpback whales-breaching and flipper slapping. We watched this pair from a distance, following guidelines set out by NOAA fisheries on how many boats approach any particular group or individual whales. With another whale watching boat ‘on’ the whales, we stood off and then continued east, following clusters of birds over the surface of the water indicating feeding whales below.

When we got ‘there’ it was incredible—dozens of feeding whales!!! In every direction around the boat we had bubble clouds, bubble nets, kick feeding, open mouths, and dragging. Whales were feeding alone, in pairs, trios and even in a group of 12 all coming up with open mouths together. It was one of the best feeding displays.

Some of the highlights included seeing Salt (the Grande Dame and most famous whale in the world) often in the middle of the large group of bubble netters. We also documenting several of the recently satellite tagged whales, including Habanero and Colt. And we were fortunate to see a mom and calf (Ganesh and calf) with the calf traveling a little farther from mom as she was busy in the feeding frenzy.

We were also very lucky to have such calm seas giving us incredible sightings of minke whales; catching their entire surfacing using the white bands or ‘mittens’ across their flippers (pectoral fins) as markers to where they’d surface. We could see the entire outline of the minke whale’s body as they fed in the same area.

No words can accurately capture the incredible feeding frenzy we were lucky enough to observe!!

Humpbacks identified, included: Salt, Colt, Tectonic, Putter, Centipede, Habanero, Ganesh and calf, Moonlight, Coral, Buckshot, Touche, Echo, Tracer, Exclaim, Epee, Abrasion, Fern, Ampersand, and Monsters 09 calf

Monday, July 18, 2011 (11 am trip)

11 am whale watch - Tammy

Today was a hot, sticky day in Plymouth and it was a relief to get offshore. Less than an hour into our trip we hit some rain that stayed with us as we crossed onto Stellwagen Bank. It was still raining when we came across three associated humpback whales who we identified as Pele, Alphorn and Jabiru.

These whales were coming up for just a couple of breaths before diving down once more. Each time these whales raised their flukes high out of the water, they dove to cheers from our passengers…I loved the enthusiasm of this group, even in the rain!

Pele, Alphorn and Jabiru were surfacing in a circular pattern around our boat and were staying in the same general area, indicating that these whales were likely feeding deep in the water column. Each time they surfaced we were able to get beautiful looks at these animals. Towards the end of our trip we had a new pair of humpbacks cross our bow.

We were able to watch these unidentified whales for just a few minutes before saying good-bye and heading back home.