May 10, 2012 Whale Watch

9 am Whale Watch - Tammy

We had a fantastic whale watch today! It was cloudy with periods of rain as we left Plymouth harbor, but as we headed offshore the skies seemed to clear slightly. As we moved onto the southwest corner of Stellwagen Bank we found several minke whales, Atlantic white-sided dolphins and humpback whales who were feeding in this area.

We focused on a group of three humpback whales, which included Fracture and Scylla’s 2008 calf. We witnessed amazing displays of feeding behavior. This trio was using bubble nets to help them concentrate and capture their prey and then they would lunge at the surface, mouths wide open.  Shortly after we arrived, Fracture and “friend” moved out of the immediate area but Scylla’s 2008 calf stayed with us.

We saw some feeding behavior from this whale, including some kick feeding and lunging but mostly this whale seemed to hold us hostage! This young and curious animal was swimming from one side of our boat to the other, over and over again, lingering just below the surface and checking us out. This whale really seemed to be playing with us, as it would blow bubbles on one side of the boat and suddenly pop up on the other side! 

When a whale comes over the boat like this we call it a “close approach” and it’s my favorite behavior to see because when a whale is that close, you can just feel how massive they are; their sheer size and presence is overwhelming!   We were privileged to spend about 30 minutes with Scylla’s 2008 calf before we finally had to head home.  On our way home we came across another pair of feeding humpbacks who were creating bubble nets and lunging and rolling at the surface.  We identified one of these whales as Division. Despite the weather, we had a great day offshore!