9 am and 2 pm Whale Watches - Tammy
9 am trip:
Written by NECWA intern Kelsey P.
It was a hot, sunny day when we were leaving the dock this morning.
We traveled to the southwest corner of Stellwagen Bank where we had a bit of haze,
but still about 6 to 7 miles visibility.
Humpback whales Eruption and Mend were our first whales to
be sighted this morning and they showed us some beautiful fluke out dives. Our
second sighting was a group of four humpback whales. All four whales fluked out
beautifully, and we were able to get great shots of their fluke patterns to
identify them. This group included Pele, Echo, Snowslide, and Jupiter! It was
amazing to see such large animals traveling together in synchronization.
We then picked up two humpback whales, Vertex and her calf
of this year. Both mom and calf were logging or resting on the surface. We had
gorgeous looks at Vertex and her calf as they peacefully rested at the surface
right next to our boat. We were also able to see minke whales as well. There
was a small variety of sea birds out with us as well that consisted of Northern
Gannets, Gulls, Sooty Shearwaters, and Greater Shearwaters. It was a beautiful
morning out on the water with a large variety of wildlife around us!
2 pm trip:
Written by NECWA intern Kelsey P.
This afternoon’s trip was so unique! As we traveled toward
Stellwagen Bank, the wind picked up dramatically from the morning trip. We were
welcomed by a group of three humpbacks named Jupiter, Echo, and Snowslide. Jupiter gave us a beautiful tail breach
right next to the boat, and there were fluke out dives by all three whales.
After leaving this trio, we traveled further to the
northeast where we saw large splashes in the distance made by two different
whales. We passed a single
humpback whale lob-tailing and headed toward the second large splash where we
found a minke whale that was doing multiple full-body breaches, and chin
breaches! We see humpback whales breach on about 10% of our trips but to
witness a minke whale breach is even rarer and it was absolutely fantastic to
see!
Our next sighting was another group of three humpbacks named
Pele, Eruption, and Mend. We had
amazing views of these three humpbacks as they traveled right toward our boat
and spent a short time next to us before showing off their beautiful tails. Aside from the two species of whales
seen, we did see a variety of sea birds as well including Wilson’s
Storm-Petrels, gulls, Sooty Shearwaters, Cory’s Shearwaters, and Greater
Shearwaters. This was an amazing trip, and the breaching minke was definitely
the highlight of the trip.
