Whale Watching Trip October 02, 2009

12 noon Whale Watch Trip - Krill 

As we headed offshore for our noon trip, our captain contacted the Cape Cod whale watching companies to see what the sighting conditions were offshore. The word we received back was that the Provincetown boats had headed to the east of the bank and had found a small number of humpback whales. So we kept a sharp watch as we came across the SW corner of Stellwagen Bank. 

On the SW corner, we picked up a single humpback whale. This animal gave us a few nice looks, but seemed to be the only whale in the area. As we held position for this whale to return to the surface, our captain saw a number of blows to the north and east of us. As we headed in that direction, we also saw a large concentration of seabirds and gulls in this same area. When we arrived in this area, we were thrilled to see at least 20 to 25 humpback whales surface feeding with shearwaters, gulls, terns and other birds. 

At times, we were surrounded by feeding whales. Many of the humpback whales were kick-feeding in an attempt to stun and confuse the bait fish. Then they would dive beneath the bait and start blowing columns of bubble that would rise to the surface creating a bubble net. We waited in anticipation as the whales surfaced with mouth's wide open lunging through their newly made bubble structures. 

It was impossible to tell our passengers where to look for the whales were charing after the bait fish and changing directions by the second. A few times, we looked into the water and saw sandlance, also called sand eels, swimming a few inches beneath the surface. This is what the whales and the birds were feeding on and we were amazed to see the bait at the surface in the thousands. Our crew did a plankton tow as we continued to watch the humpback whales all around us. They were able to collect some amphipods and smaller zooplankton, but no sandlance. The sandlance are just too fast and see the plankton net coming. We will have to bring a casting net onboard if we want to catch sandlance. 

We even had an ocean sunfish in the area where the whales were feeding. All in all, one of the best days I have had offshore. Lots of whales in a small area and those animals are feeding at the surface. This combination makes for some of the best whale watching ever!

For our humpback IDs, we were able to identify 16 whales including Salt,Thumper, Habenero, Tracer, Pixar, Dome, Ampersand, Buzzard, Broomball, Ganesh, Pharoh, Aswan, Palette, Circuit, Storm.

Whale Watching Trip October 1, 2009

12 noon Whale Watch - Fred

Cloudy, but excellent visibility.  WNW 15-20 gradually subsiding to 10-15, making for 3-4 foot seas gradually decreasing to 2-3 foot seas. Just south of the SW corner of Stellwagen Bank we came upon a young humpback who was behaving in a rather spunky manner, and we were treated to full body breaching (see photo), chin slap breaching, tail breaching, lobtailing, and flipper slapping, and the whale continued many of these dramatic displays even after we started heading further E in order to find some of his brethren.

As it turned out, between our boat and three others reporting over the radio, there had to be several dozen humpbacks stretched out along the entire width of the S end of Stellwagen.  We spent the rest of our trip watching a half dozen of these, including two mother/calf pairs, a couple miles E of where we watched our first whale.  While none were as active as that first critter, the calves did sometimes show some spunky behavior of their own, and we did see a couple of tail breaches and a lobtail.  It did seem as if many of the whales in the area were doing some subsurface feeding.

We did see a few greater shearwaters in the vicinity of the whales, but there were otherwise not many seabirds seen offshore, pelagic or otherwise.

Whale Watching Trip September 29, 2009

12 noon Whale Watch trip - Krill 

Another beautiful day offshore. We had strong SW winds, but the ride out was smooth since the waves were pushing at our stern. As we headed offshore, we came across a small humbpack whale near the SW corner of Stellwagen Bank. We didn't stay long with this whale, for other whale-watching boats were reporting a large concentration of whales to the east of the bank.

As we approached the east side of Stellwagen Bank, we saw at least 20 blows in all directions. These all appeared to be humpback whales as we slowed down to approach a trio of whales that turned out to be Anchor and her calf of this season traveling with another whale. The adults appeared to be feeding deep, and the calf was spending more time on the surface in anticipation of mom's return. 

As we watched this trio, another mother and calf pair surfaced off the starboard side of our boat. This pair turned out to be Bolide and her calf of this year. We were hoping that these two mom's would join together, but Bolide and her calf continued to feed deep on their own. Bolide has a very black ventral tail pattern with one long white scar on the left side. Her calf has an unusual looking dorsal fin for it is very hooked and has a large white barnacle on the left tip. 

As we watched this group of whales, it became a bit confusing as to what group was what! But the different groups of humpback whales appeared to be quite permanent as we watched single animals, animals in pairs and animals in small groups surface at different locations around the boat. 

At one point, Bolide's calf surfaced right off the bow of our boat and started logging (resting) as it waited for its mom to return. What a fabulous look at this young animal who very soon will be on its own. Humpback calves stay only one year with mom, so this calf will soon be separating from Bolide and start a life of independence without mom. But the calf will return to these same feeding areas that Bolide introduced it to so we will anxiously await to see this young animal return to Stellwagen Bank next season. 

Whale Watching Trip September 28, 2009

12 noon Whale Watch Trip - Krill

A beautiful day offshore with excellent visibility. We headed just north of the southwest corner of Stellwagen Bank and found a single humpback whale named Pitcher. Pitcher was spending a great deal of time beneath the surface so we decided to continue our journey offshore.

As we headed east, we picked up a small cluster of humpbacks that were feeding at the surface. Included in this group were at least two mother and calf pairs including Follicle and her calf as well as Blackhole and her calf of this season. Blackhole is easy to identify for this mom has a very black ventral tail pattern and a dark scar on her back, just forward and to the right of her dorsal fin. We were also able to identify Pixar and Tracer who were also feeding in this area.

There was so much surface activity going on all around the boat that it was difficult if not impossible to tell our passengers where to look. Many of the humpbacks were kick-feeding in an attempt to disturb and confuse the bait. Then the whales would circle around diving under the school of fish and blowing bubbles as they slowly started to head back to the surface. These bubble nets help to confine the schooling fish allowing the whale to get more per mouthful when they lunge mouth wide open. 

As the whales lunged close to or at the surface, we got a great view of the baleen that only hangs down from the upper jaw. As we continued to watch, we saw the whales close their mouths and start straining, a process where the whale pushes the water through the baleen and out of the mouth. 

While watching the humpbacks charging around this area,we came across an ocean sunfish that was swimming on its side at the water's surface (see image above). We spent a few minutes watching this very large and very unusual looking fish as it came right alongside our boat. The ocean sunfish is the heaviest bony fish in the world as it can reach lengths of up to 6 to 10 feet and weigh close to 1 to 2 tons. It migrates north from its tropical habitats to feed in our cold waters. The ocean sunfish is attracted to our waters due to the rich abundance of its favorite food, jellyfish and other gelatinous critters. 

Included in all this activity were feeding seabirds. These birds know that the whales will push the bait close to the surface and this gives the birds easier access to their food. Seabirds seen in this area with the whales included greater shearwaters, sooty shearwaters and Cory shearwaters. 

Whale Watching Trip September 26, 2009

12 noon Whale Watch Trip - Fred

A beautiful September day on the water - excellent visibility and mostly clear blue skies.  The wind was not excessive (NNW 10 knots or so), but there was a strong swell out of the E (4-to-6-foot, with occasional 7-footers, although the swell did start to let up a bit while we were watching whales).

We started out watching a young humpback (Northstar) and a minke whale, both apparently subsurface feeding fairly close together ENE of the SW corner of Stellwagen Bank.  Northstar took a moment to give us a short close approach but then resumed its apparent feeding, so we pushed on to the E.

Our next sightings were of a mother and calf pair who were more-or-less logging.  Since they were not to interested in us (although we did have them briefly pass just in front of the bow at one point - see photo), we continued east.

Finally we arrived at "the mother lode", just ENE of the SE corner of Stellwagen.  In an area about 2 miles long (N to S) and 1/2 mile wide (W to E) there were perhaps two dozen or more humpbacks.  However, we stayed in an area with about a dozen humpbacks within a 1/2 mile of us, and watched several of them likely subsurface feeding in small groups.  We were able to ID Buckshot, Cajun, Peninsula, and Circuit.

For pelagic birds, we saw a fair number of greater shearwaters, with occasional associated Manx shearwaters and Cory's shearwaters, as well as one immature northern gannet and two close northern fulmars.

Images from the trip are online at http://www.flukeshots.net/2009/090926/ .