Sunday, May 10, 2015

12 pm Whale Watch - Tammy

Lots of sun, temperature's in the 70s (on land) and more than a dozen whales made for a great Mother's Day whale watch! We had sightings of 3-6 North Atlantic right whales as we left Plymouth Harbor. These animals were all a good distance away but we could see some big splashes made by animals that were breaching or jumping out of the water.

Our final destination today was the south west corner area of Stellwagen Bank. Here, we found ourselves surrounded by 10-15 humpback whales doing a variety of behaviors. We started watching a single humpback whale doing some kick feeding and a pair of humpbacks using bubble nets to catch their prey. The feeding activity eventually slowed down a bit, but we did get to see some up close bubble nets and lunging! One of the whales that was bubble-netting is named Quarternote.

two humpback whales lunging through a bubble net

Another humpback whale who was hanging out on its own gave us a fantastic display of lobtailing; a behavior where the humpback whale is upside down and smacking it's tail on the surface of the water.

humpback whale lobtailing

Singletons, pairs and trios of humpback whales moved throughout the area. For the rest of our trip we settled in and watch a group of four humpbacks traveling together at the surface. We had fantastic looks at these four whales, who eventually became a trio of whales when one individual left the group. Humpback whale groups are very fluid and it's normal to see individuals joining and separating quite frequently.

two humpback whales traveling

a diving humpback whale

In this group we recognized Tongs, a female humpback whale. I mentioned to some passengers that Tongs had a calf last year and I'm happy to report that Tongs 2014 calf has already been sighted in the Gulf of Maine this year. It's always great to hear that that last year's calves are healthy and doing well.