Saturday, May 2, 2015

12 pm Whale Watch - Tammy


Today we started seeing whales before we had even left Plymouth Harbor! Our first sightings were of several endangered North Atlantic right whales that were in and around Plymouth Harbor and Gurnet Point. We slowly moved through the area, keeping a sharp look out for these animals as they skimmed the surface filtering zooplankton. Over the past few days, many endangered North Atlantic right whales have been spotted throughout Cape Cod Bay, including around the Cape Cod Canal and Manomet Point. There are only about 500 right whales in the world and we are quite privileged to be able to see these animals each year when they come to Cape Cod Bay!

North Atlantic right whales skim feeding off Gurnet Point

Once we got out to Stellwagen Bank we could see lots of splashing and bird activity. We spotted a finback whale that was chasing bait below the surface and quickly lunging to take in all the prey. After spending a few minutes with the finback whale, we moved on and picked up a trio of humpback whales.

finback whale surfacing

The three humpback whales, Snare, Canopy and Bounce, were using bubble nets to help them catch fish. A ring of green bubbles would start forming and the excitement would build as we waited for the three whales to surface mouth open in the center of the ring! We had amazing views of the heads and baleen of all three whales.

humpback whales open mouth feeding

Soon an unidentified 4th humpback joined the group and we watched the group of four whales feed together.

humpback whales Snare, Canopy, Bounce and unidentified whale

the top jaws of humpback whales surface feeding

Just before heading home we added a fourth species to our sighting list with quick looks at a couple of minke whales. We also got to see another pair of humpbacks and a couple of single humpbacks surface feeding as we made our way home. It was a fantastic day four species day!