We headed offshore with high hopes of seeing whales and dolphins offshore and we were not disappointed. As we headed toward the southwest corner of Stellwagen Bank, we saw splashing and blows in the distance. To our delight, we realized that we had large baleen whales and dolphins feeding together at the surface.
Also in this area were large numbers of Northern gannets were who performing amazing aerial displays as they were feeding right alongside the larger whales.
The whales were able to push the bait to the surface and this gave us incredible views all around the boat. As we moved from group to group, we realized that we had at least 12 and possibly as high as 15 humpback whales feeding together. The dolphins were feeding with the humpbacks and they would often surface right next to the boat or directly under the bow sprint as they were chasing the bait.
We would like to thank Jenna and Jooke from the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies for all their help in confirming these identifications. Captain John Boats shares its sighting data with this organization as a way of contributing to the longterm database on humpback whales in the Gulf of Maine.
