Wednesday, October 12, 2011 (11 am trip - Leah)

12 noon whale watch - Leah

Today was overcast but quite enjoyable in terms of sea conditions and air temperatures offshore. We traveled about 31 miles offshore, east of Stellwagen Bank and the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary.

As we moved through an area with quite a few seabirds and gulls, we were welcomed by a humpback named Marsh. Marsh seemed to be searching for bait below the surface for this animal was traveling very unpredictably. Finally, Marsh seemed to settle down and did indeed start to feed.

Marsh was coming up to the surface with large mouth fulls of food and water. This young humpback whale has a distinct dorsal fin with a curved cut out of its trailing edge. Since Marsh wasn't spending much time at the surface we decided to move on to watch a pair of finbacks.

One of the finback whales, also called finners, also had a distinct dorsal fin. This animal had a small chunk missing out of its dorsal fin and seemed to be a little bigger than the other one traveling with it. They also seemed to be feeding since they were traveling around in a circular motion. In this area, we had good looks at greater shearwaters, and a Northern gannet.

Great day offshore with lots of wonderful sightings and great folk aboard the boat!

Tuesday, October 11, 2011 (12 noon trip - Sue)

12 noon whale watch - Sue

Monday, October 10, 2011 (12 noon trip, Krill)

12 noon whale watch - Krill

We headed east to try and find a small cluster of humpback whales that have been feeding east of the bank for over 2 weeks now. As we moved across Stellwagen Bank, we started picking up groups of seabirds that were resting on the water's surface. We were able to identify greater shearwaters, Cory's shearwaters, Northern gannets (adult and juvenile), and one Northern fulmar.

As we continued to head east, we picked up quite a few humpbacks that were feeding in a small area offshore. All of the whales we saw were humpback whales and most were juveniles as estimated by their small size. All were feeding at or just below the surface on krill or some other large zooplankton species.

Many of the animals were feeding alone or in groups of two. All were doing a quick type of lunge referred to as "gulp feeding." As the whales performed these quick lunges, we could see the water being pushed back out of the mouth and the throat pleats fully distended.

One of the humpbacks that we were able to identify was a whale with a very white ventral tail pattern. This was humpback whale named Mayo and it is easy to see how this whale got that name. Mayo was first seen feeding alone and then joined a pair of humpback whales for a few surfacings. But then as fast as this association started, Mayo moved off to feed once again on its own.

Mayo's tail (fluke) has a large wound or welt on the left side. This injury is probably the result of an previous entanglement in fishing gear. Today, Mayo is gear free indicating that she was able to shed the gear that had wrapped around her fluke. Many of our whales get entangled in fishing gear each season. It must be difficult for them to avoid the gear since this area is heavily fished by both commercial and recreational fishermen.

Our last sighting was a pair of humpback whales that were also feeding in the area. There was a great disparity in size between the two individuals giving us the impression that we could have a mother and calf pair. However, as we continued to watch this pair feed close to the boat, we realized that this was not a mother and calf pair. Rather, an older adult traveling with a much younger animal.

We were not able to identify the smaller whale, but we did get a great shot of its ventral tail pattern. And this whale has a unique dorsal fin with multiple cuts along its trailing edge. We were able to identify the larger animal who was a humpback named Gunslinger (see photos below). Gunslinger was was first seen as a juvenile in 2001. We are not sure of Gunslinger's sex, but we assume that this association was one based solely on food, not relationships.

A fabulous day of whale watching offshore. We headed home in great spirits and settled down for a beautiful ride back to Plymouth Harbor. Much thanks to our captain and crew, especially Captain Russ Burgess who extended our trip to provide more time on the whales. Our captains are more concerned about the quality of our trips then they are about the time on their watches and this trait is greatly appreciated not only by passengers, but also by naturalists.

Sunday, October 9, 2011 (12 noon trip - Krill)

12 noon whale watch - Krill

We headed east through the waters of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. As we crossed over the bank, we heard other whale watching boats talk about a group of humpback whales that were feeding further to the north and east. This is an area where the whales have been concentrated for the past few weeks. So our spirits were high as we continued on our journey.

We started picking up large concentrations of seabirds. Some were sitting on the water while others were moving through the area. Seabirds are a good sign for their presence indicates that you are in a productive location that might have also attracted other marine wildlife, including whales.

Soon we saw blows to the east. Our first sighting was a small humpback whale that turned out to be Zeppelin's 2009 calf. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies (PCCS) for their assistance on identifying this whale and so many others that we have this season and seasons previous. I and a number of Captain John naturalists collaborate directly with PCCS for we provide them with all of our sighting data and photographic information collected over the course of our season. And PCCS helps us with tough identifications like this young humpback whale that has not been given a name yet.

Our next sighting was a pair of humpback whales that were surface feeding together. To date, we were able to identify only one humpback in this pair, Parrot's 2006 calf. This pair was lunging all around our vessel. Our Captain, Capt. Jonny Dennen, did a fabulous job of anticipating where the whales were going to surface.

At one point, the pair surfaced with mouth's open just off our starboard side. We were drifting at the time so we just sat there and watched in amazement at the incredible look we were getting. Definitely up close and personal!

Our next sighting was another pair of young humpback whales that turned out to be Ventisca's 2008 calf and Andes. Andes has a very dark ventral tail pattern, but with a number of distinctive marks that makes identifying this animal relatively easy.

Ventisca's 2008 calf is also easy to identify, but for a different reason. This young animal has a series of healed propellor scars running down its right flank. This injury is a few years old and the wounds have healed nicely. But seeing this series of long and deep gashes all along the right flank of the animal was difficult to stomach.

Here is Ventisca's 2008 calf surfacing just off our bow. You can see the prop scars on the animal's right side.

Here is a close-up of the propellor scars as Ventisca's 2008 calf surfaces in our direction.

Here is another look at these healed scars. How can we get boats to slow down? It is so sad to see this type of injury on such a young animal. We are just relieved to see that Ventisca's 2008 calf is looking healthy and doing well. But these scars are a stark reminder that even though our endangered whales receive protection when feeding off New England, there are still many dangers to their survival, and getting hit by a boat is just one of those dangers.

And what a beautiful ventral tail pattern this young animal has. It will be interesting to see what name is given to this individual. We assume that Ventisca's 2008 calf will be named this fall.

As we waited for a third whale to surface in the area, we saw a large tanker moving through the commercial shipping lanes a few miles to our east. The major shipping lanes in and out of Boston Harbor move up along the outside of the Cape and cut right through the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. When you see how small a 100 foot whale watching boat is to a tanker, even when that tanker is a few miles away, it makes you think!

We finally got a look at this third whales and realized that it was another young humpback whale. This whale is named Woodland and it has a very striking ventral tail pattern with lots of black vertical lines. Woodland defecated as we watched it feed all around the boat. The bright red color of its scat is a good indication that Woodland and the other humpbacks feeding in this area are feeding on krill.

As we were slowly leaving the area to head home, we spotted a lobster buoy adrift. Our captain and crew picked up the buoy as we continued our journey home. Everyone had a great day offshore filled with amazing sightings of very endangered humpback whales.