July 7, 2012 Whale Watches

9 am and 2 pm Whale Watches - Leah

Wicked Awesome!!!!!

Total overall ID's for the trips today: 15 (fifteen)

Names of all Whales involved in today's show:  Stub, Ventisca, Abrasion and Calf, Barb, Draco, Elephant, Rattan, Perseid, Bandit, Rocker, Touche, Nimbus and Calf, and Sushi!!!

The audience, I mean passenger's, surely appreciated the show!

While offshore we got some great looks at lot's of sooty shearwaters and greater shearwaters that were feeding along with the whales, then also had a few manx and Cory's shearwaters.  Thanks to the members of the South Shore Bird Club who were offshore for their annual Whale and Seabird Watch, I was able to get a little lesson in how to tell the manx and Cory's apart from the greater and sooty shearwaters.  We also had a bunch of Wilson's storm petrels offshore with us on our trip.  Leah.

9 am trip: trip Blog Written by NECWA intern, Kelsey Pinkham.

It started out as a bright and sunny morning as we were boarding at the dock for our 9 am whale watch.  Then while heading offshore we came to find out that there was haze, and quite a cloud cover.  As we made our way to the area off of the Highland light we had a very active welcome by many groups of Humpbacks.  

It was lunchtime for these guys as we watched Ventisca, Abrasion and her 2012 calf, Stub, and Barb feeding. There were flukes flying out, kick feeding, straining, and of course what we all love to see, breaching!  

Breaching is a high activity behavior that is not as common to see compared to other behaviors.  The breacher’s of the day are currently unknown due to the distance between the boat and the whales, but it was still quite a sight to see.  

The boat was surrounded by various groups of humpbacks pretty much everywhere you looked you were bound to see a whale.  Overall this morning was packed with action, and a variety of behaviors!

2 pm trip:

After having such an entertaining morning we were hopeful that the afternoon trip would bring just as much action our way.  As we made our way out again to the area off the Highland light we were lucky to see about five species before even hitting our point of interest!  There were minke, humpback, and finback whales, harbor seals, and Atlantic white-sided dolphin sightings!  

Once we reached our point of interest there was a breach further out in the distance to start the show off.  We spotted a group of about seven to ten whales that included Abrasion and her 2012 calf, Touche, Rattan, and Barb.  Barb showed her stuff and gave us a beautiful roll.  

The whale watchers on the boat spotted an Elmo balloon in the water, but thanks to our crew-members we got it out!  Marine pollution is of high concern, and that is why you should not be letting balloons go at any location, due to the fact that they fall into someone else's backyard.  Always throw your trash away immediately on a boat, as it tends to fly off quickly if left out and about.  

After the balloon was properly disposed of on board our large group of whales separated, and we watched Sushi and Touche. Sushi was the showstopper of the day and gave us a beautiful breach right next to the boat!  If that doesn’t make THE perfect whale watch I don’t know what does.  What an amazing active day these beautiful majestic animals gave us!

2 pm Trip: Diane Buckbee

Today was a beautiful July day with the perfect cloud cover that kept the day from getting too steamy.  Sea conditions were near perfect, with the ocean almost as smooth as glass.  

As we headed to Stellwagen Bank, we spotted several Minke Whales surfacing in the distance and were able to get a few peeks.  As we neared the bank we spotted a Minke followed by a very powerful blow that we knew was a Fin Whale, the largest creature on the bank.  There were actually two Fins in the area and multiple Minkes. 

Continuing on, we noticed lots of splashing and turbulence in the water and happily we had found a pod of Atlantic White Sided Dolphins.  There were probably one hundred of them and they provided us with some lovely entertainment, with some of them jumping out of the water and riding our bow waves.  This seemed to be the highlight of the day for many of our passengers, because it was unexpected and of course they were smiling at us!  

We finally spotted a mother Humpback and her calf on the western edge of the bank feeding deep, in waters of 283 feet.  We got some very close and beautiful looks at them due to the skillful maneuvers of our Capt. Russ!  All in all, this was one perfect day!