September 14, 2012 Whale Watch

12 noon Whale Watch - Krill

We headed a bit north of the southwest corner of Stellwagen Bank. A few miles west of the bank, we passed through an area were over 50 small fishing vessels were fishing for giant bluefin tuna. These giants are the most commercially valuable species of fish that migrates great distances to feed in our productive waters offshore.

The other day, a small boat brought in a bluefin tuna that must have weighed close to 400 pounds. This is still a small fish by tuna standards for the giants can exceed weights of over 1,0000 pounds.

Our first sightings was a very special pair that included Salt and Cardhu. These animals were traveling slowly and appeared to be resting at or near the surface. Salt was often seen resting at the surface in a behavior we call "logging." Here the whales floats effortlessly at the surface as the waves crash down on its back.  You can understand why this behavior was termed "logging" as the whale look like a log floating at the surface. 

Salt fluking out. 

Both Salt and Cardhu are mature mothers who have had many calves over the 30+ years that they have been observed feeding off New England. Salt is the most famous humpback whale in our area for she was the first whale to be given a name and she has been seen every year since 1976.  Salt, Cardhu and other humpback whales have led the way in helping us better understand the life of this endangered species. 

Salt and Cardhu

Salt does not have a calf this season, but Cardhu did have a calf this year.  However, we haven't seen Cardhu's calf in over a week which is a bit disconcerting.  Calves typically stay with their mom's through the end of our whale watch season which runs through the month of October. We are assuming that the calf separated from mom a bit earlier than most other calves. This has happened before with the calf surviving on its own.  Some calves are more independent than others and wean from mom at an earlier age. We will keep everyone updated on this situation if we hear anything more. 

Salt and Cardhu.

After leaving Salt and Cardhu, we picked up a pair of humpback whales that turned out to be a mother and calf pair. This was also a very special sighting for this calf represents the future hope for this endangered species. 

Calf coming over to our boat. 

Calf lifting its long white flipper out of the water. 

The calf swam right over to our boat and dove beneath. Soon it surfaced again, but this time it rolled over and flipper slapped a number of times.  Then the calf started nursing from the mother right alongside our boat. Mom just floated next to the boat while the calf dove underneath her body. Here is a video of mom and calf. 

Here are some photos of this same experience. How trusting this mother is as she and her calf continued to nurse so close to us.

Humpback whales identified include: Salt and Cardhu. Seabirds seen offshore include greater shearwaters and common terns.